


Poison

by Mondhase



Series: Lies Are A Special Kind Of Poison [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Absent Parents, Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, F/M, Friendship, Gen, HuntingBird, Hurt/Comfort, Hydra people are bad, Poisoning, Romance, Secrets, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-27
Updated: 2015-06-13
Packaged: 2018-03-15 10:47:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 98,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3444305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mondhase/pseuds/Mondhase
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hydra is back on the attack with a deadly poison, forcing Hunter to face someone from his past to help SHIELD save lives. As he, Bobbi and the rest of the team soon find out, though, there will be a price to pay for that. - Slow built Huntingbird. Set after episode 2x06 “A Fractured House” and based on my one-shot "Secret Keeper", which I'd recommend you read first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bad Influence

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place after 2x06 ‘A Fractured House’ and the events of my one-shot ‘Secret Keeper’. I wrote 'based on’ instead of 'sequel to' in the summary, because while this fanfic is of course both, it will also be a completely different kind of story. This will be multi-chapter with the focus on Hunter and Bobbi, but the whole team will be included.

Lance Hunter was sitting on the ramp of SHIELD's single Quinjet that was parked in the hangar, a tablet in his hand. Instead of working with it, however, he was using its black reflective surface to get a better look at the large bruise on his cheek, where one of the Hydra agents they had encountered earlier on a mission had landed a particularly painful punch, almost sending him to the floor in the process.

To his luck, Agent May had had his back in time to prevent anything worse from happening, but both his face and his ego would have to live with the damage for a while, the extent of which he was just trying to determine.

"You should really let Jemma take a look at that," a familiar female voice suddenly startled him. Hunter quickly looked up from his own reflection, only to find Bobbi holding a bottle of beer in his face, which he accepted after a brief moment of hesitation.

He took a sip, but then held the cold bottle carefully against the throbbing side of his face, sighing as the pain subsided noticeably.

"Thanks, that's a real life saver," he admitted, ignoring her suggestion to have the injury checked, but then he looked up at his ex rather sceptically, unsure about how to interpret her friendly behaviour. “But you didn’t have to do that,” he finished with what he hoped to be a grateful expression.

Bobbi had been standing in front of him so far, but now she sat down next to Hunter on the ramp, taking a big gulp from her own bottle, seeming somewhat uncertain about being here as well. In the end she just shrugged it off, though, as she glanced over at the mercenary, doing her best to make this conversation appear as casual as possible.

"I know. I just figured that since we just had a pretty rough mission, you especially, it might be a good idea to check up on you. That's what ‘mutually respectful co-workers’ do, right?” she asked, deliberately using the awkward term Hunter had coined for their current relationship during the lengthy conversation they had had in the gym a couple of days ago.

It still felt odd for them to have an actual talk that lasted for more than five words without either of them shouting or at least staring daggers at the other, but the mercenary was certainly glad that things seemed to have calmed down between him and Bobbi after he had opened up to her. For the moment at least. Because if there was one thing in his life that he was absolutely certain of, it was that there were simply too many sparks between him and his ex to be good for either of them and that they were always headed for either spectacular fireworks or a devastating explosion. He just didn’t know which one it would be this time.

For now, however, Hunter was actually beginning to enjoy the friendly tone between them and so he replied with a mischievous glint in his eyes, even though his features remained completely sober.

“As a matter of fact, ‘handing out beer’ is actually the very first point on that job description,” he explained with a smirk. “Directly above ‘saving each other’s lives’ and ‘telling the other if they have something between their teeth’.” The mercenary tried to grin at his own joke, but flinched as the pain in his cheek became worse from the movement. He could only hope that Bobbi hadn’t noticed.

“Alright, I guess I can handle those terms,” the agent agreed with a smile of her own, but then turned fully towards Hunter and grabbed his jaw with a gentle, yet firm hold, keeping him still so she could get a better look at the bruise. “But I think I’d also like to add ‘telling your co-worker if they look like shit and should really go and see a doctor about that’ to that list, because that looks seriously painful, Hunter.”

Even though he knew that Bobbi was simply concerned about him, which a part of him actually appreciated, Hunter swatted her hand away again immediately, a little more harshly than he had originally intended to. As he replied to her, there was already a trace of the old bitterness between them in his voice, making him sound cold and detached, which was about as far away from the truth as possible.

“I’m fine, thanks, but don’t you think that that line probably falls more under the ‘friends’ category? And I’m not convinced we’re really there yet.”

He could tell by the expression flickering over Bobbi’s features for a brief second that he had somehow managed to hurt her without even really meaning to, but that look was gone again in an instant, leaving only an unfazed mask in its place, as the agent was far too good at hiding her true emotions, to let herself be deterred by her ex’s rude behaviour.

“Okay, fair enough. I mean you told me the other day that you don’t think we can be friends, but there’s actually something else I wanted to ask you about. I just hope I’m not overstepping my ‘co-worker’ boundaries here.”

Hunter took another sip from his beer to hide the fact that he was rolling his eyes, but in the end he knew that if he didn’t want things between him and Bobbi to go right back to how they had started a few weeks ago, he would have to let her bother him at least a little more.

“Fine, go ahead, what do you want to know?” he asked, already anticipating that this wasn’t going to be an easy conversation.

“When you told me that your parents were SHIELD agents in the past, you said I should ask Coulson if I didn’t believe you—” Bobbi began, but didn’t even get to finish her sentence before Hunter interrupted her.

“And what did he say?” the mercenary wanted to know, immediately convinced that she had gone to the director not long after he had told her about his parents’ history. However, Bobbi shook her head, her expression sincere.

“Nothing, because I haven’t talked to him about any of this. But I was wondering why _you_ never did. You know Coulson’s been with SHIELD for a long time, he must have heard about your parents, or maybe he even knew them. You told me you stopped looking into their past because of us, and I  appreciate that that can’t have been easy, but now you’re working with SHIELD yourself, so I don’t understand why you haven’t tried to find out more about them.”

Hunter remained completely quiet for an almost uncomfortably long moment, while he took another sip from his beer and studied Bobbi carefully, as if he was trying to determine whether she really didn’t know the answer to that question or if she just wanted to hear him admit it. In the end he decided to humour her either way, though, and replied slowly.

“You do realise why I ended up with SHIELD now, right? Why Coulson’s in charge, why we’re all working from this one hidden base and why this,” he pointed at the plane behind them, “is the only jet at our disposal.”

Bobbi looked at him in confusion, her brow furrowed as she tried to figure out what Hunter was getting at.

“Well, things aren’t the way they used to be, obviously. Coulson took over when Fury vanished and we had to make do with what we had after…” she trailed off, understanding finally dawning on her face. “ _Hydra_. Hunter, you can’t actually believe that your parents were working for Hydra, can you?”

“Honestly, I have no bloody idea. And I really don’t want to know, either. They left SHIELD long before all hell broke loose, but after everything I’ve heard and seen about those weeks, after knowing just how many apparently loyal agents turned traitor, I have zero interest in looking into my parents’ history with SHIELD any longer. I don’t want to see their files and I don’t want to know about their missions; that’s all in the past and that’s right where it can stay as far as I’m concerned.”

Bobbi just looked at him incredulously in return. “But they’re your family, don’t you want to know the truth? Coulson’s right here and I’m sure he would give you everything he has on them, or you could talk to your father and ask him yourself. I mean, your parents were with SHIELD, you married a SHIELD agent, and now you’re practically one yourself, so I just don’t understand how that can possibly mean so little to you.”

Hunter sighed in frustration and grimaced slightly as he did his best not to start shouting when he answered his ex.

“Bobbi, I know that in your own unreasonable way you’re just trying to help, but seriously, this is none of your business. When I told you about what it was like to grow up with SHIELD agents as parents, I was hoping that that would explain a few things about me, not that it would make you go around, starting to ask more questions. And since when have you become this pesky anyway? Usually I’m the one who can’t live with secrets and you’re the one who’s trying to keep them, not the other way around.”

“I guess that has to be somebody’s bad influence on me then,” the agent replied with a crooked grin, actually managing to catch Hunter off guard. Before he had the chance to reply, however, a female voice suddenly cut him short.

“Guys, sorry to interrupt,” Skye called out from the door to the rest of the base, her expression grim, “but you better come and see this. There has been another Hydra attack, and it’s _bad_.”

Bobbi and Hunter exchanged a brief concerned glance, before setting their bottles down and following Skye into the command centre of the base, a dark sense of foreboding already settling over them at the thought of what Hydra could have in store for them this time.

 

**To be continued…**


	2. Thirty-Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I started writing this before the winter finale, Trip is and will stay alive in this story. But I have to admit that as the team has become really big by now, it’s not always that easy to actually include all of them.

As Hunter, Bobbi and Skye sat down at the large table in the main area of the base, almost the complete team had already gathered, except from Coulson and May. The two came down from the former's office a few seconds later, their expressions as concerned as Skye's had been earlier.

SHIELD’s newest director took a brief look at each of the agents in front of him, his eyes focusing on Hunter just the tiniest bit longer than on the others, but before anyone could notice, he cut to the chase, explaining why he had called the meeting.

"As you all know, we here at SHIELD aren’t the only ones who’ve been trying to take Hydra down for a while now. The U.S. government and military have made repeated efforts to catch up with them, especially after the attack on the Navy anti-Hydra unit a few weeks ago, and Hydra’s attempt to frame SHIELD for the assault on the UN. Last night there had been a large-scale international operation to land a considerable strike against Hydra, but I’m afraid it ended in a complete disaster.”

The director picked up the tablet that was lying on the table in front of him and tapped a few buttons. A world map appeared on the monitor behind him with four red dots standing out immediately.

“These are the locations of Hydra bases and safe houses that were recently discovered by Talbots people in the US, Britain and Australia. In a joined operation military units in all three countries attempted to take them down simultaneously, but what started out as a very promising plan ended in a catastrophe with thirty-six deaths. Because they all walked right into a trap.”

Even in a room filled mostly with trained and experienced agents, the effects of this news were unmistakable as they exchanged surprised or even horrified glances with each other, shock written on their faced in light of the amount of carnage Hydra had caused yet again.

Given their recent insight into the inner workings of the organisation, Jemma and Bobbi were probably the least surprised about the sheer number of fatalities, while Fitz, who was sitting between the two women, shrunk back into his seat, trying not to let himself be overwhelmed by the ruthlessness of the people they were up against.

It was Hunter, who spoke first, his voice completely professional, not giving away anything of what was going on inside of him at the moment.

“The British assault team, they were SAS, weren’t they?” he asked, already knowing that no other part of the British military would have been as qualified to go up against Hydra as the Special Air Service, his old unit.

“Yes, they were,” Coulson confirmed with a sad expression, knowing from experience how hard it was to lose comrades, and that even though Hunter had most likely never actually met the soldiers that had been killed, just the fact that they had been in the same corps meant that he had to feel a connection to them.

“How were they killed?” the mercenary now wanted to know, still not showing any signs of emotional involvement in any of this. “Explosives?”

“No,” the director shook his head, heaving a heavy sigh as he used the tablet in his hand once more, causing a video to start playing on the screen behind him. It was showing a group of soldiers making their way through a tunnel, fully alert and ready to take down any resistance that might get in their way.

“This time Hydra used poison gas, and they made sure that the effects of the attack were caught on tape and discovered.” He stepped to the side to give everyone a good view of the screen as the military unit continued to go further into the seemingly empty Hydra base. Their footsteps were the only sound on the video, until a faint hissing noise could suddenly be heard, catching the soldiers off guard and causing the entire unit to collapse to the ground within seconds.

All of them seemed to be in excruciating pain, trembling all over, although they weren’t screaming or making a lot of sound in the first place. Finally, the soldiers’ movements turned into full blown seizures, causing Fitz to grip the armrests of his chair tightly and avert his eyes. He took a few deep breaths, but only calmed down again slightly as Jemma placed a gentle hand on his forearm and gave him a reassuring look when he glanced up at her.

The rest of the team kept watching the video, and although they were clearly affected by what they were seeing, they managed to control their reactions better than the young engineer. Coulson let the footage run for another ten seconds, before he stopped it, the agonized expressions of the soldiers frozen on the screen.

“The seizures lasted about four more minutes before the soldiers died, which was, going by the preliminary autopsy report, caused by acute heart failure. The devices containing the gas had been hidden under the grates in the floor and were triggered once the assault team was in the right place. The exact same thing went down almost simultaneously at the other three Hydra outposts, with each of them having been abandoned well in advance and a surveillance system with the footage of the poison attack the only thing that was left behind once the rescue teams arrived.”

Coulson turned the screen off completely now, a determined expression replacing the sad look on his face as he addressed his team again.

“In light of the scale of the attack and now that SHIELD is out of the public crosshairs, at least for the moment, General Talbot has reached out to us, asking for help with the investigation. In return he will give us access not only to all the materials his men have gathered on this operation, but on Hydra in general, hopefully giving us an edge in any future encounters. Not that it would have mattered, obviously,” he pointed out with a small shrug, “because Hydra just killed thirty-six people and I’m not willing to let them get away with that.”

The director fell silent for a moment to let his words sink in, his eyes wandering once more to the now completely black screen behind him, as he could still see the images that had been playing on it moments ago all too clearly. This gave the team the opportunity to process what they had just heard, the knowledge of what they were up against weighing heavily on them, even though they all had different ways of handling the pressure.

“Yeah, and neither are we,” Hunter replied, his expression just as determined as Coulson’s. “I might not be with the regiment anymore, but that doesn’t mean I’ll just let Hydra kill a whole unit of them without consequences.”

Bobbi, who was sitting directly opposite from him, gave her ex  an understandingly look, before she turned to Coulson once more and shook her head slightly.

“Whatever that gas is they used in their trap, I’ve never seen anything like it while I was undercover at Hydra.”

“Me neither,” Simmons added, “and I’ve seen a lot of the research Hydra did at that lab. But wherever they developed it, it must have been recent, or I think they would have used it before.”

This statement caught Coulson’s attention and he looked straight at the scientist for a moment, before he seemed to make up his mind about something and continued.

“Actually, I have seen similar symptoms before, caused by a rare poison during a SHIELD operation years ago, but the effects were not nearly as intense as what we’ve just seen. Simmons, I want you to start analysing the samples Talbot sent us immediately. May will give you access to the old case files so you can verify whether there really is a connection.”

“Of course, sir, I’ll get right on it,” the biochemist replied immediately, before heading to the lab, Fitz in tow. Even though he knew that he wouldn’t be of much help to her, and their relationship wasn’t exactly easy at the moment, either, it was still the most natural behaviour for him to go wherever she went, no matter what that might entail. When the two scientists had went on their way, Coulson turned to Skye, handing her a small flash drive.

“This contains all the information Talbot’s men had gathered about the Hydra bases. I want you to go over all of their leads and find out who set them up, who’s been pulling the strings in the background on this one. Was it Dr. Whitehall again, or are we dealing with someone else this time?”

The agent nodded quickly as she took the drive, eager to test her skills against Hydra.

“Got it. I’ll find out who’s behind this,” she promised as she headed towards one of the empty offices of the base that she had unofficially claimed for herself to work in silence.

Mack, who knew that his mechanical skills weren’t exactly of much use right now, sauntered off to the hangar to make sure both the Quinjet and the Bus were ready to go once they had made out a target to pursue, leaving only Hunter, Bobbi, Trip, Coulson and May in the room.

“Sir, what can we do?” the blond agent asked, wanting to assist in any way she could to make sure that whoever was responsible for this massacre was held responsible. The director exchanged a quick glance with May and then shook his head.

“For now, nothing. Just be ready to move out as soon as we have more information.” He then handed the tablet to his second in command and told her to give it to Simmons, as it contained the files she would need for her research. At this point Trip was leaving the room, and Bobbi and her ex-husband were about to follow his example, but Coulson suddenly addressed the latter, stopping them both dead in their tracks.

“Hunter, a word in my office, please.” Startled by the unexpected invite, the mercenary shot a surprised glance at Bobbi, but as she seemed to be caught off guard just as much as him, he finally shrugged and turned to follow Coulson up the stairs to the inner sanctum of the base.

“Yeah, sure, didn’t have any plans anyway.”

As the two men had vanished from view, Bobbi gave Agent May a puzzled look, but before she could ask what all of that had been about, the dark haired woman shook her head, her expression grim.

“You’ll find out soon enough, but it’s not my place to tell you.” With that cryptic answer, May turned around and headed towards the lab, leaving a clearly concerned agent in her wake.

 

**To be continued…**


	3. A Personal Matter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There should be way more Huntingbird stories out there. Their relationship deserves a lot more love ASAP!

“So, what’s this about?” Hunter asked as he dropped into the seat in front of Coulson’s desk unceremoniously, looking at the director with a puzzled expression. “There are only so many reasons why you wouldn’t say whatever you have to say downstairs in front of the others, and as I can’t recall screwing anything up recently, I figure it has to be some kind of bad news, right?”

He kept watching Coulson expectantly, but the other man didn’t reply immediately. Instead he walked slowly behind his desk, where he stood next to his chair, his eyes wandering over his collection of old SHIELD memorabilia for a moment, deep in thought. As patience had never exactly been Hunter’s strong suit, however, he continued pushing for an answer.

“That unit that was killed back in the UK, any of my old mates in it, is that what you’re going to tell me?” he asked, trying not to let the prospect of more of his friends having been killed by Hydra get to him. He was still visibly relieved as Coulson finally replied, though.

“No, this has nothing to do with that. I have no idea if you knew any of the men who were killed last night. The reason why I wanted to talk to you in private, is that this is about a somewhat personal matter, which I thought was better to discuss without the rest of the team present,” the director explained, but his answer only managed to confuse Hunter further.

“A ‘personal matter’, you sure this is the right time for that?” he asked, his brow furrowed. “Because I could swear that we’re in the middle of an operation against Hydra right now, so maybe it could just wait for a bit?”

Coulson shook his head, his expression grim.

“No, I’m afraid this can’t wait. Hunter, I asked you to come up here, because I wanted to talk to you about your parents."

Coulson waited for the younger man to say anything, but for a very long moment he simply stared back at him, completely dumbfounded, until he finally replied, his temper rising.

“And here I actually believed Bobbi when she told me that she hadn’t talked to you. But whatever she said to you to get you to do this, I’m going to tell you exactly what I told her earlier. I have _no_ interest _whatsoever_ to hear about my parents’ history. So what if they were agents of SHIELD? Whatever curiosity I had to learn more about their past vanished a long time ago, so I’d be more than happy if we could just leave it at that, alright?”

"So you do know that they were with SHIELD. I wasn't sure,” Coulson now admitted, startling Hunter.

“What? But… I thought Bobbi told you?” he asked, utterly confused by now.

“No, actually Agent Morse hasn’t told me anything. She didn’t come to me to talk about you, let alone your parents, and while I realise that they might not be your favourite subject, if I’m right about the poison Hydra used in their traps last night, there is a connection there that we can’t afford to ignore, no matter your personal feelings.”

While he was still confused about why Coulson had chosen this particular moment to bring up his parents, even though he had been working for the guy for several months now, Hunter couldn’t help but be immensely relieved that Bobbi hadn’t been the one who had set him up to it after all. The mercenary still wasn’t sure how he would classify their current relationship or where it was headed, but he knew that her going to Coulson behind his back would have seriously undermined his trust in her, undoing the tentative improvements between them of the past few days possibly for good.

"What connection?” he finally asked, trying to understand what was going on. “Did my father work with that stuff back when he was one of your scientists?"

“Yes, he did, and if we’re really dealing with a modified version of the same poison now, I want you to fly to England and bring him back here to help Simmons work on an antidote.”

Hunter’s expression hardened as he listened to Coulson’s words. Even though he knew what was at stake, he just couldn’t bring himself to look past the old resentments he still carried towards his parents and his father in particular.

“You don’t need my help for that,” he scoffed, not even trying to hide the depth of his aversion towards this assignment. “Send May or Trip or whoever, as long as it’s someone with a SHIELD badge, I’m sure my dad’s gonna jump at the opportunity to get back into action. I haven’t talked to him in years, so if anything, me being there would only make things more difficult.”

“He has no idea that you’re working with SHIELD yourself now, does he?” Coulson asked, one eyebrow raised slightly as he leaned back in his chair, scrutinising the mercenary in front of him.

“Of course he doesn’t,” Hunter replied, the sharp edge of hurt and anger in his voice unmistakable. “That man never said a single word to me about the work he did for SHIELD. If my mum hadn’t told me the truth before she died, I still wouldn’t even have a clue that they were ever agents to begin with. I mean, sure, an awful lot of good knowing about their past did me, but I guess at least it explained why neither of them had ever been a contestant for the 'parent of the year' award,” the mercenary finished, shaking his head at the memory.

Coulson studied Hunter for a moment, trying to decide how to continue this conversation. He knew that the mercenary was right at least in so far that he could just as easily send Agent May or one of the others to ask his father for help with this operation, but he also couldn’t shake the urge to arrange a little family reunion, especially given the fact that he considered both of Hunter’s parents his friends. This was, however, also the reason why the younger man’s bitter tone towards them didn’t sit well with him.

"Hunter, I knew your parents back in the day. We did several operations together and we weren’t just colleagues, we were friends. They did a very important job working for SHIELD, they saved countless lives over the years and while I know that it wasn’t always easy for them to combine this career with having a family, I also know for a fact that they spent every moment they could with you."

At this point Hunter let out a mirthless laugh, disdain seeping into his voice without him even realising.

"'Every moment they could'? Now that's rich. I sometimes didn't see them for months and I don't care how well you knew them or what great agents they were, because they were rubbish parents who always – and I mean _always_ – put their work in front of their family. Why do you think I haven’t talked to my old man in ages?"

Coulson wasn’t sure what it was, but something about Hunter always managed to rub him the wrong way, and hearing his resentful attitude towards his parents now, people whom the director had always liked and respected, finally managed to make him angry enough to forget his better judgement for a moment.

"Oh, buhu. Stop whining, will you? I’m sorry mommy and daddy weren’t there every night to put you to bed as a kid, but so what? You think that's an excuse to keep acting like a child even though you're a grown man now?"

His expression furious, Hunter jumped up from his chair without thinking and slammed his hands down on Coulson’s desk. He leaned forward so that he was staring directly at the older agent.

"Alright, mate, I think this would be a really good time for you to call Agent May in here for backup, because director or not, I swear to god I'm gonna smack you!"

Coulson wasn’t that easily intimidated, however, and he took his time to answer.

“I’m not your mate, and honestly, I’d like to see you try,” he replied calmly, looking Hunter straight in the eye until the mercenary finally backed down after an uncomfortably long moment and sat in his chair again. Anger was still radiating off of him, though.

Coulson studied the mercenary for a few seconds in silence, already regretting his angry words, as he could see that he had struck a particularly sensitive nerve with his accusations. However, he also wasn’t willing to let the topic go just yet. He knew that if he wanted Hunter to be able to work with his father on this mission, the younger man would have to understand a few things first. So he continued in a resolute tone.

"I know how much your parents loved you, Hunter, and that every time they went out on a mission, they made perfectly sure you were taken good care of. Don’t you think that maybe it's time that you get over yourself and start to accept that even though your childhood probably wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, it wasn't as terrible as you like to make it out to be, either.” He tried to keep his tone friendly this time, wanting to reach the mercenary instead of just accusing him as he had done before.

“Your parents weren't home with you as much as you would have liked, I get that, but it wasn't as much as _they_ would have liked, either. But they did what they could under the circumstances, trying to balance their work for SHIELD with their family life, because they, in contrast to you, _were_ 'bigger picture' kind of people," Coulson pointed out, echoing a remark Agent Hartley had once made about her partner.

Hunter was not impressed, however, and he leaned forward in his seat again, staring at Coulson with a mixture of defiance and bitterness.

"Right. Now how about you try explaining that ‘bigger picture’ to a six year old, who just broke his arm so badly that he actually needed to have surgery and whose parents didn’t show up until three weeks later? Or to a twelve year old, who had to spend the third Christmas in a row with his aunt, because his own folks just couldn’t make it? Or maybe to a seventeen year old, who wasn’t even disappointed anymore when his parents didn’t show up to his graduation, because he never expected them to be there in the first place.” He grimaced slightly at the memories, a part of him was still angry about all those events even though he had vowed to himself a long time ago to put all that behind him.

Then he continued, however, suddenly needing to vent all his frustration, not just about his parents, but also about the organisation that had kept them away from him, now that Coulson had opened up the old wounds.

“You SHIELD people always love to pretend you’re so high and mighty, constantly out there saving the world, but the truth is that while you care so much about all of mankind, you don’t give a shit about those around you. You’re the director now, you’re calling the shots and I know you always try to do the right thing, but I also know that as long as you would deem it worthwhile, you wouldn’t hesitate to send every single one of our team to our deaths to further your plans or complete a mission.” Hunter could see that Coulson wanted to say something in return, but he hurried to continue, as he wasn’t finished yet.

“I know you’ve always looked down on me, because I don’t share your great ideals and because I fight for money, but at least I don’t sacrifice other people or my relationships to them for the so-called ‘greater good’,” he huffed, getting out of his chair and walking over to the window to look outside. He suddenly felt trapped inside the brick walls of the building, despite the rather large scale of the room.

When Coulson replied, he finally realised that convincing Hunter was obviously out of the question. He was still the director, however, as the mercenary had noted so astutely, and so he knew that it wasn’t exactly necessary, either.

“I guess we’re not going to see eye to eye on this, but luckily we don’t have to. You’re going to get paid for this assignment as usual, so I assume you’ll follow orders. But, Hunter, I hope you realise that when you go to England, you’ll also have the opportunity to mend one of those relationships that are apparently so important to you.”

Hunter sighed and leaned against the window sill for a moment, frustration in his voice as he replied.

“Why do you want my father’s help on this anyway? Simmons is good, isn’t she, and if you really have to get someone who worked with that poison before, I’m sure there are other agents out there who fit that description. Sending me halfway around the world just to drive me crazy seems a little excessive, even for you, so that’s not it, either. So why does it have to be my dad? He’s been out of the game for over a decade now, hasn’t he?” Hunter asked sceptically as he turned to face the director of SHIELD once more, a part of him already expecting Coulson to tell him otherwise.

But he didn’t.

“He has, but he is also the leading expert on the poison that appears to be a prototype of the one Hydra is using now. He spent years analysing it, trying to find an antidote for it, or rather a cure for its effects.”

Hunter’s expression darkened at this explanation. He paused briefly as a terrible suspicion suddenly grew inside of him, almost making his voice falter as he uttered just one more word.

“Why?” The mercenary needed to know, even though he finally began to suspect the answer, his entire body tensing in response.

Coulson could see the gears behind the younger man’s eyes turning, forming a connection he would rather not believe, but he knew that it was time for the whole truth to finally be revealed, no matter how painful it might be.

“Because it’s the same poison that killed your mother.”

 

**To be continued…**


	4. Intelligence Work 101

_“Because it’s the same poison that killed your mother.”_

Coulson knew that Hunter’s parents had always done their best to keep their work and their family life separated. Raising a child while they had both been active agents working for SHIELD must have been one hell of a balancing act, and even though they had never revealed many details about their private life, he knew that one of the foundations of that life had been not to let anything related to SHIELD get into it. This had of course also meant leaving everyone, including their own son, in the dark about what they had really been doing for a living. His mother had ultimately broken that rule by telling Hunter about her work before her death. However, but judging by the expression on his face right now, the exact circumstances that had led to her being sick in the first place had apparently not been part of that confession.

The mercenary just stared at Coulson with a blank look for a few seconds, giving him the opportunity to continue.

“I take it that’s one more of the things your parents never told you about,” the director noted, nodding to himself as he realised that he probably should have broken the news a little more gently than he had. Before he could say anything else, though, a change suddenly occurred in Hunter without warning as disbelief turned to anger, distorting his features.

He had to admit that a part of him had expected Coulson’s answer. However, an even larger part of him was now stubbornly refusing to believe it, clinging to the firm conviction that, while both of his parents had always been experts when it had come to telling lies and evading the truth at all costs, at least in that one moment when she had told him about her history as an agent, his mother had been completely honest with him. Just the thought that she could have kept something this important from him even in her final days was simply too horrible to accept.

“You bloody arsehole!” Hunter spat out, deeply rattled by what Coulson had just told him. That emotion was now turning to rage, however, as he approached the director’s desk once again, stopping right behind the chair he had been sitting on earlier.

“I know lying is like a second nature to spies like you, to get people to do what you want, but what kind of a sick person makes up something like _this_ just to get me invested in an operation?”

Coulson sighed as he returned the younger man’s gaze, doing his best to ignore his furious tone under the circumstances.

“I’m telling you the truth, Hunter, but just the fact that you actually think I would lie to you, to Katharine’s son, about her death, tells me that you really still have no idea about what kind of person I am.”

The mercenary shook his head in denial, unwilling to accept Coulson’s assertions.

“No, my mum died of a heart condition. It forced her to leave SHIELD and my dad got out with her, but it wasn’t caused by her job. She knew she was going to die, so before she passed away, she admitted the truth about her past and her connection to SHIELD to me and she would have told me if someone did that to her. She wouldn’t have kept that a secret! She _wouldn't_ have…” At this point Hunter just broke off, his mouth still slightly agape. The anger on his face from before now made way for an utterly lost expression as he leaned with both hands on the backrest of the chair in front of Coulson’s desk.

He closed his eyes tightly for a moment to block out everything around him, trying to process what he had just been told. It only resulted in his temper spiking back up, however, and his fingers clenched tightly into the fabric of the backrest. Without warning, he pulled the entire thing backwards, sending the chair flying behind him into the corner of the room.

Hunter buried his face in his hands and took a few deep breaths, doing his best to get himself under control again. When he looked back up at Coulson, he made a conscious effort to conceal how much he was being affected by the revelation that his mother had hidden the real cause of her death from him, but he was more than aware that deception had never been his main expertise.

“Admitting one lie in order to keep up another, that’s got to be like ‘intelligence work 101’, right?” the mercenary asked with a weak chuckle, as if he was amused by the easiness with which he had been manipulated by a member of his own family. The look in his eyes was filled with so much hurt and betrayal, however, that Coulson couldn’t help but feel for him, even though the two of them had never gotten along very well.

Before the director of SHIELD could think of anything comforting to say, however, the door of the office suddenly opened and Agent May entered. Her eyes darting immediately to the chair lying in the corner and then back to Hunter and Coulson.

“Is everything under control in here?” she asked warily and scrutinised Hunter for a moment, before focusing back on Coulson.

 “Yes, everything’s fine. We were just talking,” the director assured her with a small smile, glad that his second-in-command was there to have his back, but convinced that it was unnecessary. “Now what did you find?” He indicated the tablet in May’s hand, knowing that the agent wouldn’t have come back to his office so soon if she didn’t have some new information.

“Simmons only needed a few minutes to confirm it; turns out your hunch was right. While it’s not an exact match, the poison Hydra is using now is definitely a derivative of the one SHIELD encountered before.”

“You mean the one my mother encountered before. The same poison that killed her,” Hunter corrected her with a constricted voice, still trying to wrap his head around the idea.

May’s eyes lingered on Coulson for a second, not bothering to hide that she was a little surprised at and not completely on board with his decision to tell the mercenary about his mother’s true fate just yet, but then she turned to look at him and nodded briefly.

“Yes, that one.”

“Did you know her, too?” Hunter now wanted to know, trying to get his mind to focus less on the last memories he had of his mother, how she had died, and more on what kind of person she had been when she had still been alive.

“We met, but I wouldn’t say I knew her. I heard she was a very good agent, but we were never in the field together. So I can’t give you any firsthand knowledge, if that’s what you’re looking for.”

Hunter merely acknowledged her reply with a simple nod, his expression still shaken, but his demeanour visibly calmer by now.

Deep down he was still angry of course. Angry at Coulson for the callous way he had dismissed the issues between him and his parents and for choosing this moment to reveal that even one of the only things he had thought his mother had ever told him the truth about had been a lie as well.

Aside from that, however, he was also angry at himself for trusting anything his parents had said to him in the first place. He had grown up with the unwavering certainty that for whatever reason, be it to protect him or just their own secrets, the people closest to him in his life had a habit of lying to him and keeping things from him. So over time he had learned if not to live with it, then at least not to be surprised by it any longer. However, if the emotional turmoil inside of him right now was any indication, at least this once he had allowed himself to let his guard down despite his resolve to the contrary. He promised himself that it wouldn’t happen again.

Swallowing hard, Hunter tried to calm himself, the tension in his shoulders almost painful by now, and looked at Coulson. He was doing his best to make a professional impression, even though he knew that that wasn’t exactly easy after everything that had happened over the past few minutes.

“Alright, I’ll do it. I’ll go to England and get my father back here so he can help us against Hydra, but obviously I’m gonna need a pilot,” he stated, glancing at May. The female agent didn’t get the chance to voice her opinion on the matter as Coulson replied in her stead.

“Trip will take you. The Quinjet should be refuelled and ready to go in about twenty minutes, which I think is just enough time to let someone from our medical staff take a look at that bruise on your cheek. That really does look pretty painful,” Coulson finished with a sympathetic look at the still fresh injury left from the mission earlier this day, but Hunter only stared back at him exasperatedly, perplexed at the sudden change of topic.

“Really, that’s what you’re concerned about now? You sure you haven’t been talking to Bobbi?”

“Quite sure, yes. Now, if you’ll excuse us,” Coulson started, indicating to the mercenary that he was dismissed. Before Hunter could leave the room, though, the director held him back once more briefly.

“Tell Trip to get ready, I’ll catch up with you in the hangar before you leave to give you a quick final briefing.”

With a small nod, Hunter turned on his heel and headed for the door, glad to finally be able to leave Coulson’s office, even though by now he was able to hide just how much his mind was still reeling after everything he had learned during their conversation.

Once the mercenary had closed the door behind him and his steps had faded away down the corridor, May turned to Coulson with a sceptical expression.

“Do you think this was a good idea, telling him about what happened to Katharine? He clearly didn’t take it that well,” she observed with a quick glance at the chair still lying in the corner.

“He would have found out sooner or later anyway, and as his relationship with his father already seems to be difficult enough, I figured it might actually be better coming from me,” Coulson explained, but he could tell by the way May’s eyebrows rose, that she wasn’t entirely convinced.

“Alright, but why didn’t you wait until you knew for sure the poison was even related to the one that killed his mother?”

“I was pretty certain,” the director assured her, but then continued grudgingly as he realised that his second-in-command was still watching him with doubt in her eyes. “I know both Katharine and Robert always wanted to keep their son out of SHIELD, but somehow he found his way here anyway. He is a good asset in the field, but he isn’t committed yet. I thought that maybe, if he knew that his parents were working for SHIELD as well, and how much it meant to them, he would decide to stay permanently. But he already knows and obviously it didn’t have quite the effect on him I had hoped for.”

“And now what, you’re really going to send him to his father alone, hoping that he won’t just kill him instead of bringing him back here?”

“No,” Coulson replied with a smile, which only grew wider as there suddenly was a soft knock on the door. “Sending him alone wasn’t really the plan.”

 

**To be continued…**


	5. Good Luck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I already said in the summary, you should have read “Secret Keeper” to fully understand this story. This chapter in particular will rely heavily on it.

Bobbi was sitting on the couch in the main room of the base, drumming her fingers on her leg impatiently. They were in the middle of an all-hands-on-deck situation, as Hydra had murdered dozens of people just hours ago, which made the fact that Coulson had chosen this moment to discuss something with Hunter in private all the more confusing.

She didn’t know what he could possibly want to talk about with the mercenary, but she just hoped that if her initial suspicion, that her ex-husband had somehow managed to get himself into trouble once again, was right, it wasn't anything too serious. But then again, if it wasn't serious, why would Coulson spare the time right now to deal with it in the first place?

Bobbi sighed absentmindedly, knowing that this wasn't like her. She wasn't one to question the actions or motives of her superiors, instead she was usually content with waiting for her orders and accepted the compartmentalisation of information as one of the basic rules of her job, but at least recently she found that her earlier quip to Hunter was becoming more and more true, as his impatient nature seemed to be rubbing off on her.

She wasn't entirely sure why this was happening now, when in the past all his nosiness had done had been to set her on edge, whether it was because they had both changed in the years since their divorce or because the world around them was so different now, but for some reason both her and Hunter were seeing more eye to eye at the moment than they had ever done before.

Of course that didn't mean that they couldn't still start to fight at any moment, but if Bobbi had needed any proof that she wasn't the only one who could feel that things were somehow different between them now, the way Hunter had opened up to her only a few days ago would have been more than enough.

At first, the idea that Hunter had been keeping things from her during their relationship hadn't even bothered her. While it had made him a rather large hypocrite for always nagging her about everything, Bobbi firmly believed that it wasn't necessary to share all your secrets with your spouse to lead a functioning marriage, but once she had learned the truth, not just about her ex's childhood and how his parents' secrecy had turned him into the constantly suspicious mess he was today, but also about their very first meeting, she had felt betrayed to a degree she hadn't even thought possible after they had been separated for so long now.

As an agent whose specialty was undercover work, Bobbi had been sent after more targets than she cared to remember, often with the mission to seduce them to get the intel she needed, but the thought that her own husband had approached her at first with that exact objective in mind, had been more painful than she liked to admit.

But while she had actually considered becoming physically violent for a moment as he had revealed that bit of information to her, the very fact that Hunter was not an undercover specialist had finally convinced her to believe his assertions that their marriage had not been based on a lie. He might have been able to hide the true reason for approaching her in the first place, but despite her initial moment of doubt, deep down Bobbi knew that the mercenary’s feelings for her had always been genuine. All those times he had told her how much he loved her, his feelings reflected in his eyes so clearly, hadn't all been lies.

Lance Hunter had truly loved her; if there was just one thing in her life that Bobbi was absolutely certain of, this was it.

But even though, given that knowledge, she had forgiven her ex rather quickly for that lie, a part of her was still angry at him for keeping the truth about his parents from her. But unlike Hunter, it wasn't so much the secret itself that bothered her, but rather the possibility of what might have been, if he had just been honest with her.

While it hadn't been the only reason for the end of their marriage, Hunter's obsession with getting her to always tell him the truth about everything had been a constant obstacle in their relationship and a repeated cause for heated arguments between them, which in the end had worn them both down so much that fighting _with_ each other had become far more natural to them than fighting _for_ each other.

And now that she knew the truth, a part of Bobbi couldn't help but wonder if things would have been different between them if she had known from the start what a toll the constant lies and secrets of his childhood had taken on Hunter and just how much it must have killed him everytime she had treated him the exact same way his parents had without even realising it.

But while it hurt to think about what could have been, she also figured that maybe the mercenary had been right, and while it was too late now to save the past and what they used to have, they could at least use this as an opportunity to move on from here and start over with both of them on the same level this time.

But the agent's train of thought was cut short as she suddenly heard footsteps coming down the stairs from Coulson's office. For a brief second she thought it was May again, who had headed upstairs only a few minutes ago, but then she recognised Hunter's heavier steps and jumped to her feet, not even trying to hide the fact that she had been waiting for him.

But the mercenary didn't even notice her at first, as his thoughts were obviously somewhere else entirely as he was headed out of the room, looking thoroughly shaken.

"What did Coulson want?“ Bobbi asked, pulling Hunter back to the here and now, even though she was kicking herself mentally for this rather unprofessional prying. But if before she had been only a little concerned about what the director of SHIELD had wanted to discuss with her ex-husband, she was truly worried now, as she could see the stunned expression on the latter’s face and the pain in his eyes, although he managed to hide all of that the instant he became aware of her.

“Bobbi, I… I didn’t realise you were still here,” he noted, glancing around the otherwise empty room.

“There’s not really much I can do to help at the moment, so I figured I might as well stay here and see if anything else comes up,” the agent replied vaguely, doing her best not to let her concern for her ex show. “And, did anything come up?“ she asked again, fully aware that she was being less than subtle with her curiosity.

But the mercenary let his eyes wander around the room for a few more seconds before replying, clearly unwilling to reveal the content of his conversation with Coulson to Bobbi. But it wasn’t so much that he didn’t want to tell her, more that he didn’t really know where to start or how to put into words what he had just found out about the connection between the poison from Hydra’s latest attack and his parents.

So instead he chose to go with what he thought was enough of the truth for the moment, fully intend on telling his ex-wife the whole story once he had had the chance to process everything himself.

“Well… um… I’m gonna be heading out with Trip soon. Coulson wants us to pick up some scientist who might know more about that poison Hydra is using now.”

The blond agent stared back at him for a second, visibly perplexed by that answer, but also obviously relieved.

“Really, that’s it? I mean, that sounds like a pretty solid lead to me, which is of course good news, but why couldn’t Coulson just say that here while we were all gathered around? And when I tried to ask May about what was going on, she made the whole thing sound so mysterious that she actually had me worried there for a moment.” The agent shook her head and laughed briefly at herself for letting her imagination run wild, but then she suddenly noticed that Hunter was avoiding her eyes and she could spot just the slightest of frowns on his face, like he always had when he was feeling guilty about something, and she sobered up again immediately, realising that he was keeping something from her after all.

“Okay, Hunter, I know that expression, so what are you hiding? Coulson didn’t order you to lie to me, or else you wouldn’t be feeling guilty about it, you just don’t want to tell me something. What is going on?”

Her voice was sharp with frustration as Bobbi glared at her ex furiously, but once he realised that she could see right through his charade, he dropped the act, and the overwhelming mix of anger, hurt, betrayal and confusion he still felt manifested on his features again, catching the agent of guard and causing her to forget everything but her concern for the mercenary for the moment.

Taking a startled breath, she crossed the distance between them in an instant and laid a gentle hand on Hunter’s arm as she looked straight at him, her voice soft and filled with worry as she spoke again, all the harshness from before gone.

“Lance, please tell me what happened. What did Coulson tell you?”

Swallowing hard, Hunter avoided Bobbi’s gaze for another moment, before finally looking back at her, a grudging expression on his face as he gave into her pleading and told her the truth.

“Well, as it turns out, it’s not just ‘some scientist’ Coulson wants me and Trip to bring back here, it’s my father.” Judging by the look on her face, Bobbi had about a million questions about that revelation, but for the moment she was completely dumbfounded as she stared back at the mercenary, not knowing what to say. But he was actually rather glad about that, as her silence allowed him to continue before he could change his mind.

“And the reason why he’s so valuable for this operation is that my parents lied to me – of course – when they told me about my mother’s condition. She didn’t have some heart disease, she died because she’d been poisoned with the same stuff that Hydra is using now, or a prototype of it – whatever. Apparently my dad tried to save her, but even though he failed, obviously, he’s still the best expert on that poison there is, so now Coulson is sending me off to England to recruit him for this mission, whether I like it or not. So if you ever felt the need to wish me ‘good luck’ before I head out on an assignment, now would probably be a really good time for that,” he finished half jokingly, trying not to show how much all of this was getting to him, but of course Bobbi knew him better than to fall for such a weak attempt at fooling her.

But she still didn’t really know what to say, especially since she knew basically nothing about Hunter’s parents or his relationship to them, other than what he had revealed to her over the last few days.

“Hunter, I…” she began, only to settle on something less emotional in the end, as she had suddenly made a decision that would make any further encouragement for the moment unnecessary.

“Good luck,” she finished quietly, simply nodding to her ex, which he took as a sign that they were done here for now. But as Hunter turned around and left the room, probably on his way to Agent Triplett to let him know about their assignment, Bobbi’s expression became resolute as she started walking up the stairs in the direction of Coulson’s office, already thinking of different ways to convince the director to send her to England as well, as she had decided that there was no way that she was going to let Hunter go through this operation alone.

By the time she was in front of Coulson’s door, she had already come up with several angles to justify her inclusion in this mission, although none of them were the real reason why she knew that she had to accompany her ex-husband, and that was that she could tell just how much he was hurting right now and that, if seeing his father again would really be as painful and difficult for him as she suspected, someone had to be there for him to support and focus him.

And despite their constant arguing and the fact that their relationship wasn’t exactly easy, either, she knew that she was the only person who could do that.

**To be continued…**


	6. One Long Day

Hunter was sitting in the back of the Quinjet, resting his forehead on the heels of his hands wearily, as by now he was almost certain that this day was never going to end.

They were still parked in SHIELD’s hangar and Coulson, who was standing on the jet’s ramp, had just finished retelling at least part of what he had told the mercenary earlier, to brief Trip and the newest member of their operation on their assignment. But while Hunter was definitely grateful that the director had left out the fact that his own mother had been the SHIELD agent, who had been poisoned with a similar substance to the one Hydra was using now, and whom his father had treated extensively, making him an expert on the matter, he still didn’t understand why the agent had insisted on sending Bobbi along on the mission.

As if the prospect of having to talk to his father again after years of dead silence between them wasn’t bad enough, the fact that he was going to have to spend the entire flight there and back again with his ex-wife wasn’t making his life any easier either.

He knew of course that they had both been making efforts to improve their relationship, starting with him telling her about his parents and Bobbi’s clear displays of concern for him, both after their last mission and earlier after his talk with Coulson, but he also knew that the two of them being locked up together in a space as small as the Quinjet for several hours could only be a recipe for disaster.

After all he still remembered their trip to Okinawa to take down Toshiro Mori all too clearly, and how it seemed almost inevitable that whenever they were in a room together for more than a few minutes, they would end up reopening old wounds that neither of them really wanted to revisit. And right now, Hunter already had more than enough of those to deal with without Bobbi’s presence making things worse.

But Coulson had already dismissed his protests, meaning that the mercenary had no choice but to brace himself for what was surely going to be the longest day of his life.

“Alright, so now you all know who the target is. Hunter and Bobbi, you’re going to handle the approach, while Trip, you’ll make sure to get them all back here as soon as possible. Any questions?“ Coulson finished the briefing, looking from the agents Morse and Triplett to Hunter, who still wasn’t looking up from his position in one of the seats in the back of the jet. But even though the director already expected him to protest once more against Bobbi’s inclusion in the mission, or the assignment in general, it was actually Trip, who spoke up, a slightly confused expression on his face.

“Yeah, I got one. The lead sounds good and the job is straightforward enough, so no problems there, but just so I get this straight, _his_ dad is actually a scientist?”, he asked, disbelief colouring his voice as he pointed over his shoulder at Hunter, who was looking up again now, rolling his eyes and groaning slightly.

“Alright, here we go,” the mercenary muttered in reply, already anticipating the jokes that were sure to come now, on how he had not exactly followed in his father’s footsteps.

Coulson, who was grinning visibly by now, glanced over at Hunter briefly before facing Trip again, obviously more than eager to talk about his former fellow agent.

“Yes, he is, but not just that. Robert Hunter has two degrees in chemistry and bioengineering, and he was also an excellent field agent in his days,” the director of SHIELD explained enthusiastically, although his praise clearly didn’t find everybody’s favour.

“Yes, isn’t he great?“ Hunter replied sarcastically, causing Coulson to look at him with a disapproving frown.

“Okay, I think by now we all got that you two have your differences, but when you see your father, please remember that you’re on a mission. Just bring him back here without incident and you can argue with him all you want after he helped us neutralise this Hydra threat.”

“I’ll make sure he stays civilised,” Bobbi announced with a pointed look at Hunter, her arms crossed in front of her chest, and her voice filled with the teasing, almost condescending tone that could drive her ex mad so easily. “And as he obviously doesn’t come after his father a lot, I’m sure Agent Hunter will react perfectly rationally and be glad to help us.” Hunter stifled a frustrated sigh as he tried not to react to Bobbi’s taunting and faced Coulson instead, looking at him uncomprehendingly.

“And you really think this is a good idea, sending _her_ on a several hour trip with me to see my father? I mean, do you actually want me to get a stroke or something, because if you’re trying to kill me, I could think of easier ways to get it done.” Coulson laughed briefly at this, slowly getting used to Hunter’s abrasive form of humour.

“Don’t worry, I think you’ll be just fine,” he assured him with an amused expression before leaving the jet and sending the team on its way.

“Now good luck, and Hunter, tell Bob I’m looking forward to seeing him again and that I haven’t forgotten about the bottle of Scotch he still owes me. But if he helps us with this, we can call it even.” The mercenary just nodded silently in reply while Bobbi sat down a few seats away from him and Trip made his way to the cockpit to get them into the air.

 

* * *

 

They had been flying for a while by now, mostly in silence, when Hunter caught Bobbi glancing at him for what must have been the fifth time in the last two minutes, causing him to turn his head in her direction and address her wearily.

“What?“ he asked, clearly not in the mood to talk, but getting rather annoyed by her constant looks.

“Nothing,” she began rather unconvincingly, but then continued as Hunter kept looking at her with slightly raised eyebrows. “It’s just that I have to admit that I’m pretty curious.”

“Curious about what?“ the mercenary asked in return, clearly confused now.

“About meeting my ex-father-in-law, of course,” Bobbi replied with an expression that stated that this should have been rather obvious. But then something seemed to occur to her, and a slight frown appeared on her features.

“Hunter, you said you haven’t talked to your dad in years, so does he even know about me? I mean, you obviously didn’t tell him about me being a SHIELD agent, but you told him you got married, right?” She looked at her ex questioningly for a moment, a part of her already expecting him to answer negatively, but then he nodded briefly, even though his eyes weren’t meeting Bobbi’s anymore.

“Yes, of course he knows. Me and my old man don’t get along too well, and I don’t think this trip is going to change anything, not after everything that happened, but of course I let him know that I got married.”

The blond agent studied Hunter for a few seconds, the fact that he was avoiding her gaze not lost on her, and the weird way he had phrased his reply did the rest to convince her that her ex was once again not telling her the whole truth.

“You ‘let him know’, what exactly-”, but before she could even finish her sentence, the mercenary suddenly interrupted her, obviously eager to change the subject.

“Coulson was lying earlier, wasn’t he?“ he asked, catching Bobbi off guard for a moment. “When he said that he wanted you to come along on this mission, that it was his idea. You asked him to come, didn’t you?” There was no accusation in his voice as Hunter now looked at his ex-wife, taking in her surprised expression. At first she just stared back at him in stunned silence, but then she finally nodded, her features softening.

“How did you know?“ she asked, looking in Hunter’s eyes, to see him staring back at her, not hiding anything this time.

“We might not have been married that long, but I know you, sweetheart. And if the situation were the other way around, I would have done the exact same thing,” he replied honestly, causing Bobbi to smile briefly at him.

“Except that you already met my parents,” she pointed out half-jokingly, only for Hunter to frown slightly in return.

“Yeah, and if they suddenly turn out to having been SHIELD agents in the past, I think I might actually like to meet them again,” he replied bluntly, but even though he hadn’t meant to, his answer clearly managed to rub Bobbi the wrong way.

“What, and otherwise you wouldn’t?“ she asked, anger creeping into her voice. “Well, if I’d known that meeting them had been that horrible, maybe I would have kept them a secret from you during our marriage as well,” the agent declared, not even sure herself why she was suddenly this furious.

And neither was Hunter, going by the utterly startled look on his face.

“Bobbi, are we actually fighting now? How exactly did that happen?“ he wanted to know, but his ex-wife shook her head in denial.

“I’m not fighting,” she replied in that slightly passive-aggressive tone that could drive Hunter up the wall so easily. But just this once he wasn’t in the mood to go another round with her and so he stood up, intending to head to the cockpit, to get at least some peace for now.

“You know what, I’m gonna go check on Trip,” he told her, echoing her words from their first mission together on the new team.

“Everything all right back there?“ Trip asked, looking up as the mercenary sat down next to him. “You don’t look too happy.”

“Hell beast, mate, I told you,” Hunter replied quietly, so Bobbi wouldn’t hear him.

Trip chuckled briefly, remembering all the stories the mercenary had told about his evil ex-wife all too vividly, but then they both remained silent for a while, as one of them had to concentrate on flying the jet, while the other was lost in his own thoughts.

But it was Trip, who finally broke the quiet again, glancing over at Hunter with a sympathetic expression.

“So your dad was with SHIELD, huh? You never said anything, so I guess you’re not that close, right?”

“Right,” Hunter echoed, not really willing to discuss his father or his connection to SHIELD, even though he knew he could hardly avoid the topic much longer. But Trip either hadn’t gotten the hint or was deliberately ignoring it.

“I get it, man, parents, they can be difficult sometimes. Drive you mad, really. But to be honest, I do have one more question for you,” the agent announced, causing Hunter to look over at him sceptically.

“Do I even want to hear it?“ the mercenary asked tiredly, knowing that it was most likely going to be another joke at his expense.

“I was just wondering, now you and your dad obviously have a difficult relationship, you probably fight a lot – or _did_ , when you were still talking to him – and as it turns out, his name is _Bob_. Now was it a coincidence that you married a woman called _Bobbi_ , or were you actually looking for someone to make you miserable?” Just seeing the cocky grin on his face made Hunter already ponder whether knocking their pilot out was an acceptable risk at the moment, given the fact that they could go to auto-pilot, but then he just took a deep breath instead and opted to simply stare outside, ignoring his friend’s comment.

“This is going to be one _long_ day, isn’t it?“ he finally asked, rubbing his temple absentmindedly, but focused back on Trip when he replied.

“Probably, yeah, but at least this part of it is almost over. We’re gonna be there in about fifteen minutes, so whatever issues you and your dad have, you better get ready to put them aside for now,” the agent announced, absolutely sincere this time.

Swallowing hard, Hunter just nodded wordlessly and got out of the co-pilot’s seat to head into the back of the jet again, a small part of him suddenly glad that he wasn’t going to have to go home alone.

**To be continued…**


	7. Fight The Good Fight

As Hunter and Bobbi were walking down the street to his family’s house, the mercenary remained uncharacteristically silent, lost in his own thoughts, as everything around him was a reminder of the years he had spent here as a child.

To avoid startling any of the neighbours by stepping out of an invisible jet in the middle of the street, Trip had landed the aircraft on a small field only a two minutes' walk away, and was waiting there now for them to return with Hunter's father in tow. During a normal operation, it would have been his job to serve as their support and emergency backup, but in this case, the agent had simply been glad to be able to stay behind and avoid the awkwardness that was sure to follow the first meeting of the two Hunters after years of virtually no contact between them at all.

"It's a nice neighbourhood," Bobbi suddenly pointed out, breaking the silence as she looked around at the trees and beautiful houses lining the street, most of them with a bay window to the front and a small but very decorative garden completing the almost perfect picture.

This finally managed to snap Hunter out of his thoughts again, and he nodded as he looked around once more, taking in the scenery, before replying to the agent with a knowing expression on his face.

"Not quite what you expected, is it?“ he asked with a smirk, glancing over at Bobbi. "Admit it, you probably thought I grew up in some rundown, shady part of town or something like that. Although I guess that would at least have been an explanation for my unique roguish charm," he mused, scratching the stubble on his chin thoughtfully.

Even though she was rolling her eyes at him, Bobbi couldn't help but smile slightly at her ex's strange humour, which had always been one of the things she liked most about him, despite his frequent tendency to have less than ideal timing with his jokes.

"Yeah, right," she replied with a smirk of her own. "Now, if you ask me, most of the time your 'unique roguish charm' is actually a lot less charming than you think, but you're right, I didn't expect your old home to be in such a pretty and also pretty expensive looking area," the agent agreed, looking over at Hunter with an obviously curious expression, trying to get him to tell her more about his family, now that she was finally about to get a closer look at it.

Knowing that the story behind his old home was probably the least sensitive subject that was going to come up today, the mercenary complied with his ex-wife’s unspoken request, almost glad to talk about something regarding his family that wasn’t bringing back old resentments.

"The house first belonged to my grandparents, but they gave it to my father when I was born. They thought it would be a good place to start a family," he explained, but as they were getting closer to their destination, Hunter couldn’t fight off the glum mood any longer, that had been hanging over him ever since Coulson had given him this assignment. Because no matter how beautiful his childhood home had been, and how well he had always been cared for by his aunt when his parents had been away, all he remembered was a large empty house and a string of lies that had been told to him to keep him from questioning their frequent absence any further.

But as Bobbi was still looking at the houses they walked byinterestedly, she replied in a light-hearted tone, completely oblivious to Hunter’s sudden mood change

"Not too bad for a birthday gift," she remarked, but then her expression became serious again as the mercenary finally came to a halt in front of one of the houses, his gaze wandering over it with clear aversion, and if she didn’t know better, she would have thought that there was even a small trace of fear in his eyes.

“How long?”, she asked quietly, pulling Hunter’s attention back to her and earning herself a slightly confused look. “How long since the last time you’ve been here?”, she elaborated, trying to be as considerate with her ex as possible, given the circumstances.

He averted his eyes from her and back to the front door of the building before answering, swallowing hard as he did.

“Couple of years. A few months before we even met, actually.” Bobbi’s brow furrowed at this as she was connecting what little she knew about Hunter’s past prior to their relationship.

“But that was when-”

“When my mum died, yeah,” he finished her sentence, a heavy sigh escaping his throat as he continued.

"The last time I was here, it was because my mother was dying. I stayed for a few weeks until she had passed away and then for her funeral, and somehow I even thought that things between me and my dad would be different after that. I mean, I wasn’t a kid anymore and I finally knew the truth about their work, about SHIELD, but when I asked him about what Mum had told me, he didn't even want to discuss it. He downright refused to tell me anything about SHIELD or what they had done there and I admit that when I left again, it wasn't a particularly friendly goodbye. But I guess that can’t be helped now, right?“ he finished with a wry smile as he finally made a conscious effort to move forward and headed up the small path leading to the front entrance.

As they were standing in front of the dark brown wooden door, the mercenary hesitated for another brief moment, but then he took a deep breath and rang the doorbell, his jaw tightening almost unnoticeably.

Ignoring the sympathetic look he knew Bobbi was giving him right now, Hunter kept staring straight ahead at the small stained glass window in the door as he spoke once more, the bitterness in his voice unmistakable, even though he was clearly trying not to let it get the better of him.

"I told my dad I would never set another foot in this house again, unless he was willing to tell me the truth, which I guess was actually kind of prophetic, given the circumstances now," he finished with a weak smile, but the attempt at humour was only half-heartedly, the sad expression in his eyes remaining unchanged.

But before Bobbi could reply anything, there was suddenly movement inside the house, cutting her short.

Going by what Hunter had told her over the past few days, or even by what he had told her just now, Bobbi could only imagine how difficult this moment had to be for him. When the door finally opened a few seconds later, a man with dark brown, slightly grey hair was standing in front of them, surprise clearly visible in his features as he was looking at his unexpected guests. He was still a very handsome man, even though he had to be in his early sixties by now, and as Bobbi took a closer look at him, she could clearly see the family resemblance between him and his son, especially in the line of his jaw and the intensity of his eyes.

"Lance,” the former agent began, not really knowing what to say, as he had obviously been caught completely off guard.

"Hey, Dad. I know it's been a while," Hunter greeted him with a somewhat forced smile, doing his best not to show how uncomfortable he was at the moment.

"Yes, I assume you could say that," the older man replied with a sigh, his eyes resting on his son for a moment, taking in his appearance as if he was assessing every little detail that had changed over the past five years. As his scrutinising gaze finally focused on the mercenary's bruised cheek, his brow furrowed slightly, even though Hunter was sure that he had seen his father's lips twitch almost unnoticeably.

"But obviously you still have that habbit of getting into fights with the wrong people, don't you?“ the former agent asked, more than a trace of disappointment in his voice, causing his son's expression to harden in response, even though his voice remained surprisingly light-hearted as he replied.

"Well, there'd be no point in fighting with them, if they were the 'right' people, or would there be?“ he asked in return, and this time the smile on his father's lips was unmistakable, even though the former agent didn't immediately respond to the joking remark. Instead he took another long look at his son and the woman standing next to him, before finally opening the door wider and stepping back, indicating for his guests to come inside.

"No, I guess not. But please, come in, both of you. Whatever it is that brought you back here today, Lance , I'm sure it would be better if we don't discuss it out here on the doorstep."

After glancing over at Bobbi briefly, Hunter nodded and followed the invitation, entering his childhood home once again, memories of his last visit immediately rushing in on him without him being able to stop it.

The house had been filled with so much pain and grief back then after his mother had spent her final weeks bedridden, slowly fading away in front of her family's eyes as her condition had become worse every day. She had refused to go to a hospital, saying that the doctors weren't able to help her anymore and that she wanted to die in peace in her own home, but now Hunter couldn't help but wonder how much the true nature of her condition and the fact that she had been lying to him about it, had played a role in her decision.

"Now, don't you think it's time that you introduce me to your companion, Lance?“ his father suddenly asked, effectively pulling the mercenary back to the present. They had just made their way through the hallway and into the living room and Hunter had had to fight the sudden urge to hang up his jacket on the coat rack as he was so used to, reminding himself that they didn't plan to stay long.

After he cleared his throat in an awkward attempt at stalling, Hunter nodded, knowing that he couldn't delay this any further. But as he started talking again, he briefly wondered who of the two people in the room would end up being angrier with him once this part of the conversation was over.

"Dad, this is Barbara Morse, I told you about her once and we're working together at the moment, and Bobbi, this is my father, Dr. Robert Hunter."

"It's nice to meet you, sir." If she might have had any objections to Hunter's rather professional introduction, the blond agent didn't show it as she greeted his father with a friendly smile, extending her hand to him, but the moment he heard her name, the scientist looked over at his son, obviously startled, before facing Bobbi again, a warm expression on his face as he took her hand in his.

"Just call me Robert, alright? And I have to say, it really is about time we finally meet. But I feel like I have to apologise for my son’s manners, because if I had ever introduced _my_ wife as 'someone I work with' to my family, she would have never let me live that down."

Taken aback for a moment, Bobbi finally realised why her ex had been so closed off earlier about what exactly he had told his father about her and so she shot him a brief angry glare, stating clearly that she would make him regret putting her in this position, before turning to the former agent again, trying to think of the best way to explain the situation to him.

But before she had the chance to say anything, Hunter beat her to it, knowing that this was his mess to clean up, not hers.

"Actually, Dad, Bobbi and I aren't together anymore. We got divorced almost two years ago, but somehow we ended up working together again recently.”

The former agent’s disappointment at this news was almost palpable, but there was also something else in his expression as he looked at his son again, something Bobbi could only interpret as anger, the intensity of his reaction startling her at first.

"Would it come as a surprise to you if I tell you that this is actually something I would have liked to know about?“ Hunter's father asked, his voice calm, but filled with the same old resentment the female agent had heard from his son so many times by now. "But then again, maybe you just couldn't find a stamp at the time to tell me what had happened." At this point Bobbi looked from one Hunter to the other, clearly confused.

"'Couldn't find a stamp', what's that supposed to mean?“ she asked in bewilderment, only for her ex to look even more uncomfortable than before.

"Oh, I take it Lance never told you about the postcard he sent me from your honeymoon. Two whole sentences to let me know he had gotten married and not a word in the years before and since. Not since his mother passed away anyway."

If Hunter had tried to keep his temper in check so far for the sake of both the mission and Bobbi, the mention of his mother finally made him lose his cool, his anger rising quickly as all the issues he still had with his father came back to the surface.

“I had a very good reason for staying away all this time, and you know it!“ he argued, completely forgetting his earlier resolution not to let his father get under his skin again. “If you had wanted me to stick around after Mum died, you could have just told me something, _anything_ about what she had said to me about your work for SHIELD, but you didn't. You chose your bloody secrets over me – _again –_ so excuse me for not staying in touch after that.”

The mercenary was glaring at his father furiously, but before either of them could say anything else, Bobbi suddenly stepped in front of her ex-husband, laying a firm hand on his chest and making sure he was looking at her as she spoke to him in a determined tone.

“Alright, Hunter, this isn’t helping. I know you and your father have a lot to discuss, and you really should, but not right now. Right now we still have a mission to complete, so please, let us all act like professionals for a moment, okay?” But before Hunter could reply anything to her, his father’s voice interrupted him, filled with recognition and mild surprise.

“You’re with the agency, aren’t you?”, he asked Bobbi, causing the agent to turn around to him, her expression impassive, as she did her best not to take any side in the conflict between the scientist and her ex-husband.

“I’m working for SHIELD, yes, and so is your son. And the reason we’re here is because we want to ask for your help. There has been a series of attacks with thirty-six deaths last night, all of them conducted with a derivative of the same poison that killed your wife and as there is nobody who has done as much research on the substance as you have, Director Coulson would like you to assist our scientists with finding an antidote for it.”

Considering the amount of new information the agent had just revealed with these few sentences, it wasn’t much of a surprise that Hunter’s father needed a moment to process all of it, a fact his son used to address him once more, although considerably calmer this time.

“What do you say, Dad? Fight the good fight and save the world one more time?” There was a distinct amount of sarcasm in his voice, but despite of that, the mercenary had no doubt that the one constant in his father’s life, his loyalty to SHIELD and the ‘greater good’ would make this opportunity pretty much a non-decision for him, which was exactly why the older man’s next words left him utterly dumbfounded.

“No, I’m sorry, but I can’t help you. I am done with SHIELD for good.”

**To be continued…**


	8. Lies and Secrets

_"No, I’m sorry, but I can’t help you. I am done with SHIELD for good.”_

The words were still ringing in Hunter’s ears, sending him reeling, as he couldn’t believe what he had just heard.

“You have _got_ to be kidding me!”, he burst out, pushing Bobbi’s hand away and stepping forward so that he was facing his father directly again.

“When I was a kid you could never wait to get back out there, to leave and go on another mission for SHIELD, and the one time I actually want you to, you say ‘ _no_ ’? Now if this is you getting back at me for not staying in contact after I left, I have to tell you that it’s an extremely poor way of doing that. Dozens of soldiers are dead, men who were fighting to take down Hydra and we need your help if we want to keep even more people from being killed. So you better find some other way of punishing me, because this is just ridiculous.”

The mercenary had gotten himself completely worked up by now, his father’s uncooperative behaviour taking away any last restrains he might have had before in order not to endanger the operation, but as the former agent finally replied, his voice calm and collected, it was as if his words were pulling the rug out from right under Hunter’s feet, taking away the anger that had been masking his pain so far and leaving only hurt and bitterness behind.

“No, Lance, you’re wrong, my decision has nothing to do with you.” The younger man laughed humourlessly at this, nodding his head slightly.

“Right, how could I forget? No decision you ever made had anything to do with me, so how could I even think that now would be different?”

“Hunter, please-”, Bobbi suddenly chimed in, trying to placate her ex, but he immediately interrupted her, and even though he was addressing the blond woman, his eyes never left his father.

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ve got this. I’m not the one making this difficult after all.” And then, talking directly to the man in front of him this time, he continued.

“Alright, if this really isn’t about me then, why don’t you go ahead and explain just why exactly you don’t want to come with us? Coulson’s been going on about what a great agent you apparently were and that you two were friends, so even if you don’t want to do this for me, why don’t you want to help out your old mate and save countless lives in the process? Doesn’t sound like such a horrible thing to me.”

Hunter was looking at his father uncomprehendingly, actually trying to understand why he would refuse to come back to SHIELD with him and Bobbi. Because despite the countless scenarios that had played out in his head on the way here, about how exactly their reunion could end in a disaster, the possibility that his dad could simply refuse to help them without him screwing everything up first, had never even crossed his mind.

But as Robert Hunter finally began to explain himself, his son clearly wasn’t particularly impressed or convinced.

“Believe me, I have my reasons. Of course I will give you all the research data I still have on the substance that was used to poison your mother and on everything I tried to cure her condition, but I won’t go with you. My days as an agent are long gone. The SHIELD I knew is gone. I teach chemistry at the local college now and I have no desire to go back to that life again. Not even for one more mission.”

“You know,” the mercenary now replied slowly, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly in suspicion, “I’ve spent almost two decades in this house, listening to you and Mum telling me lie after lie while you kept all your little secrets to yourself, and then I’ve spent a few more years with a woman who’s been doing pretty much the same thing – no offence, love,” he quickly added with a side glance at Bobbi.

“Oh, we’ll see about that,” she promised ominously, but after a brief worried expression quickly passed over Hunter’s face, he focused back on his father again.

“What I’m saying is, by now I can usually tell when people are trying to take the piss out of me, and right now, you definitely are.”

“I gave you my reason, Lance, which you obviously don’t have to like, but I’m not lying to you,” the scientist replied, anger seeping into his voice slowly, as he clearly didn’t like the way his own son was talking to him.

After taking a long, scrutinising look at her ex-father-in-law, Bobbi turned to Hunter as well, her expression sceptical.

“Are you sure? Because I don’t get the sense that he’s lying and you know that getting a read on people, that’s actually part of my job.” But the mercenary simply nodded without hesitation, obviously completely certain that he was right.

“Absolutely sure, yeah. You’re forgetting that my dad used to be a highly trained agent and you just haven’t spent enough time with him yet to get a proper read on him, so don’t take it too hard that I beat you to it this time, eh?”

“I said I am not lying, and this is really getting repetitive.” The briefest flicker of doubt passed over Hunter’s features at his father’s insistence, but then he shook his head and continued, talking directly to the former agent this time.

“Alright, so maybe you’re not lying, but there’s definitely something you’re not telling us, I just can’t figure out why. You know, I didn’t exactly volunteer for this mission, either, but Coulson convinced me that recruiting your help was important, because right now Hydra is out there, already planning how they can murder even more people with the same stuff that killed mum. So how the _bloody_ _hell_ can you just want to sit by and do nothing? Do you think that’s what she would have wanted?”

The question hung heavily in the air for a moment as Dr. Hunter fixated his son with a piercing glare, a small trace of sadness and guilt, but mostly anger colouring his voice as he replied.

“Lance, don’t pretend you know what your mother would have wanted in this situation, because you _don’t_. Just because she told you that she and I used to work for SHIELD, does not mean that you know who she was as an agent.”

Years of pent up emotions on both sides were breaking through now, opening up old wounds and threatening to create new ones in the process. Caught off guard by how quickly the situation seemed to be escalating, Bobbi was left speechless for a moment as she watched father and son trade verbal blows with each other. And now it was her ex-husband’s turn to make the next move.

“You’re right, I don’t. I barely know who she was as a person, but trust me, you _really_ don’t want me to get into the question of who’s to blame for that right now,” Hunter declared, his voice sharp with unspoken blame. A part of him knew that this confrontation was already threatening to get out of control and that he was being the exact opposite of helpful right now, but he honestly couldn’t care less, as every word out of his father’s mouth seemed to bring back the anger and even hatred he had felt for his parents growing up.

“Alright, I get it,” Dr. Hunter replied, his temper flaring up now as well, “you’re still angry because your mother and I were gone so much when you were a child, but it was you who turned your back on us when you left after you had graduated, not the other way around. You didn’t even tell us you wanted to join the army until _after_ you had enlisted.”

But the mercenary wasn’t willing to take that accusation and answered back immediately, his voice practically dripping with spite and sarcasm now.

“Well, I _tried_ to tell you at my graduation ceremony, but… oh wait, no, I couldn’t, because you weren’t _there_. Because you were _never_ there!“ he all but shouted, finally crossing a line Bobbi wouldn’t tolerate.

“Okay, enough!“ the blond agent now interrupted the two men, her blue eyes staring fiercely at her ex-husband, not allowing any objections. “Hunter, you haven’t been here in a while, so why don’t you go and have a look around the house while I talk to your dad for a minute? Because I think we all need to take a deep breath right now and focus again, and maybe that would work better if you just take a step back, just for a moment.” The mercenary was glaring angrily at her, obviously biting back a bitter remark, but then he finally nodded and glanced back at his father briefly before turning around.

“I guess it won’t hurt to take a look at the place while we’re here. But if you ask me, I’d say we just take his notes and whatever data he still has on that poison and get out of here. Maybe Simmons can use that and our trip here won’t have been a complete waste of time.” And before he left the living room and shut the door behind him, he added, “At least now I get to tell Coulson that I was right and it really was a stupid idea to send me here.”

Once the door had closed and they could hear Hunter head down the corridor into a different part of the house, his father exhaled audibly, visibly shaken by what had transpired over the last few minutes. Then he walked over to a small table in the corner that carried an assortment of liquor bottles, where he picked up an expensive looking one and two glasses, immediately pouring a drink for himself before halting to look over at Bobbi.

“Do you want one, too?“ he asked almost sympathetically, knowing that it couldn’t have been especially pleasant to have witnessed the scene that had just played out between him and his son.

The agent hesitated for a second, but then shook her head, although clearly reluctant.

“To be honest, I would love to have a drink right now, but I really shouldn’t. Not during a mission and not while Hunter is like _that_.” But then, realising who she was talking to, Bobbi quickly continued. “Well, you know, the _other_ Hunter.”

Letting out a soft understanding chuckle, the scientist poured a small amount of the amber liquid into the second glass anyway and put it down on the coffee table, before indicating to the agent to sit down on the couch.

“Just in case you change your mind. It’s a really fine Scotch and knowing my son, you’re definitely going to need it sooner or later today,” he explained, taking a seat in the armchair opposite from her.

Bobbi watched the liquor in front of her for a moment, slightly torn about how exactly she was going to continue this conversation. As she had come to realise that there was a surprising amount of things she actually didn’t know about her ex, there were about a million questions she would have liked to ask his father right now, but she also knew that there were more important things at the moment than her personal curiosity. And as Dr. Hunter had just given her the perfect lead-in to get back to her actual assignment, she quickly decided to go with a professional topic for now.

“Before we left the base, Director Coulson actually mentioned something about a bottle of Scotch you still owe him. But he said he would call it even if you agree to help us instead.”

But as he obviously hadn’t changed his mind about not wanting to go back to SHIELD yet, the former agent pointedly ignored Bobbi’s obvious request and chose to focus on something else she had said instead.

“‘ _Director_ Coulson’, now how exactly did that happen? When I heard that SHIELD was still around, even after what happened at the Triskelion and Hydra revealing itself, I figured that Fury must have faked his death and was still running the show, but to think that Phil is in charge now – I admit, that isn’t something I would have expected.” The astonishment in his voice was more than audible, but it wasn’t really clear whether the news had surprised him in a good or in a bad way.

But as Bobbi didn’t really care either way, she replied immediately without trying to figure out what the scientist was thinking about their current leader.

“Well, actually Director Fury did not fake his death-”, she began to explain, but Dr. Hunter interrupted her, a knowing glint in his eyes as he took another sip from his drink.

“If you say so.” But the agent ignored his doubtful remark, going on as if she hadn’t even heard it.

“But before he died, he took precautions to make sure that SHIELD could be rebuilt, even after a catastrophic event like this. And he trusted Agent Coulson to do that, because he knew that he is loyal and dedicated to everything SHIELD stands for, to what it’s always been _supposed_ to stand for, and that he will find a way to built it back up even better than before.” A small smile appeared on Bobbi’s lips at this point as she realised just how much she actually believed in what she was saying right now.

“I admit, we’re just getting started, and it’s not without growing pains, but we’ll get there eventually. And to be honest, even though he probably doesn’t even realise it himself yet, I think your son could play a very important role in SHIELD’s future, _if_ he allows himself to commit to it.”

“His mother and I always tried to keep everything about SHIELD as far away from Lance as possible. To think that he actually became an agent himself now…”, he trailed off, obviously still trying to wrap his head around the idea, but Bobbi quickly replied with a small shrug.

“Well, technically he isn’t an agent yet. At the moment he’s working for SHIELD as a private military contractor.”

“You mean he’s a mercenary?“ the scientist clarified with a frown, causing the agent to grimace slightly.

“Yes, but Lance doesn’t really like the term, so I’ve started to humour him. Why, is this a problem?”

“Not for me, no,” the former agent replied, “I’ve never had an issue with mercenaries. I’ve worked with several very skilled and absolutely trustworthy ones in my active days, but Katharine, she really detested them. Apparently a group of mercs almost got her killed during an operation before we met and that distrust never went away again.”

Slightly startled by this revelation, Bobbi looked at the man in front of her in surprise, her eyebrows raised visibly, before she collected herself again.

“I guess this is actually pretty obvious, but that is probably not something you should bring up when you talk to Lance again. I’m sure he would love to hear more about his mother and what kind of agent she was, even though he has a questionable way of showing it, just not that particular part.”

“No, I wouldn’t think so,” Dr. Hunter agreed, staring into his almost empty glass thoughtfully, as if he was hoping to find some advice on how to handle his son on the bottom of it. As he looked back up again after a few moments, he noticed the conflicted expression on Bobbi’s face, as if she was dying to say something else, but was holding herself back for some reason. But as the scientist was already getting tired of all the arguments, he encouraged her to speak her mind.

“I can see that you want to ask me something, Barbara, so go ahead. I mean, we’re practically family, aren’t we, even though we barely knew about the others existence,” he pointed out, finishing his drink at the thought.

“It’s just ‘Bobbi’, but that’s actually a part of what I wanted to ask you about. You’re right, Lance never really mentioned you while we were together and the few times the topic of his parents did come up, it was obvious that he didn’t want to discuss it. And as I knew that his mother was dead, I didn’t want to pry, either, so we never actually talked about you. But going by what he told me over the last few days and by what I’ve seen so far, I know that there’s still a lot of very deep seated resentment between you, so why-”

“Why haven’t we just been honest with him? Why all the lies and secrets?”

Bobbi simply nodded in reply, causing Dr. Hunter to lean forward and rub the back of his neck with one hand, a familiar gesture she had seen his son do countless times before. His expression grim, the former agent sighed heavily before he finally answered, at first only looking at the ground instead of the woman sitting opposite from him.

“When Lance was little, Katharine and I talked a lot about what we would tell him once he became older, if we should just admit to him that we were working for SHIELD or stick to our usual cover story, that we were working for a company that required us to travel a lot, but in the end we realised that even if we told him the truth, it would never be enough. It couldn’t be,” he elaborated, his voice sad, but also collected, as he obviously still stood to his decision. “Because for each of his questions we would have been able to answer, there would have been ten, twenty more to which the answers would have been classified. And so we ultimately decided rather not to tell him anything at all then. You’re an agent yourself, and I take it you’ve been for a while, so you know how it is. Of course we want to be honest with the people we love, but in this business we simply don’t always get to do that.”

A brief flicker of sadness and regret passed over Bobbi’s features at his words, before she managed to put up an unfazed expression again, but then she nevertheless reached out and took the glass of Scotch still standing in front of her and downed its content in one gulp, setting it down again forcefully.

“As a matter of fact, I _do_ know how it is, because you just spared me the trouble of explaining why Lance and I ever got a divorce,” she admitted with a weak smile, causing Dr. Hunter to give her a sympathetic look.

“Another drink?“ the former agent offered, lifting the bottle up slightly. After looking at it for a moment, Bobbi sighed and finally nodded, holding her glass out to him in response.

“But just a sip,” she instructed, knowing that she couldn’t allow herself to let her guard down too much, despite the hazard-free nature of her assignment and the fact that they weren’t in enemy territory. “To be honest, after today I’d rather be completely drunk on our flight back to the base, no matter if you come with us or not, but I don’t think Lance would ever let me forget about that. And that’s really not worth it, no matter how excellent this Scotch is.”

**To be continued…**


	9. The Good, The Bad, The Really Really Ugly

After Hunter had closed the door to the living room behind him, he made his way back down the corridor and into the kitchen, which was located towards the front of the building, its window overlooking the street.

Just like back when he had been living here, everything about the house, while beautiful, was also entirely ordinary, nothing indicating that a former high-ranking member of a secret government organisation was living here.

Hunter's heart was still pounding in his chest as he was only slowly calming down again, the argument he had just had with his father still having him rattled. And the fact that his ex-wife had basically kicked him out of his own, even though former living room wasn't making things any better, either.

Deep down he knew of course, that Bobbi had probably done the only sensible thing by asking him to leave, but he still couldn’t help but feel like a child who had been sent out of the room so that the grown-ups could talk in private, and just the thought that his father and his ex were keeping things from him together now was leaving him frustrated and in desperate need of finding a way to unwind. Which was exactly why he was heading straight for the fridge now.

As much as he and his dad had the tendency to fight about anything, the one thing they had always easily agreed upon was the brand of beer they preferred and so Hunter actually grinned slightly as he opened the door of the fridge and found a few bottles of his favorite beer just waiting for him. He knew of course that he wasn't supposed to drink on a mission, but as far as he was concerned, Coulson could hardly expect him to spend the day with his ex-wife _and_ his father and not get at least slightly drunk.

The mercenary sighed in pleasure as he took the first large gulp of the cold beer while he was leaning against the counter next to the fridge, and only then did he actually take the time to look around for a moment.

The kitchen hadn't changed much since the last time he had been here, just like the rest of the house, but at a closer look he did recognise a few things that were different. There were fewer cooking utensils standing around, fewer plates on the shelf, and it all just added to the general feeling of emptiness that seemed to surround the entire building.

The house had already been rather big for three people living inside of it, but now that his father was staying here alone, Hunter suspected that only his sentimentality and the memory of his wife had kept him from selling it years ago. But as the mercenary kept looking around, he grinned slightly, as he had to correct his observation, because his dad obviously wasn’t entirely alone.

There was a bowl filled with dry cat food standing in the corner, but the grey tabby that his parents had bought a few years after he had moved out was nowhere in sight. But as it was an extremely lazy cat that preferred a warm and cosy place to running around outside, Hunter was almost sure that it had to be lying around somewhere in the house. And as he didn't really have anything better to do at the moment, he decided to go and look for it, so he went back into the hall and headed up the stairs to the second floor. But as soon as he was up there, the small pet was already forgotten, as everything around him seemed to be bringing back memories, and not exactly pleasant ones. 

As his old bedroom had already been turned into a guest room the last time he had been here, there wasn’t really anything to see there. Instead Hunter found himself drawn to another door down the corridor, and when he opened it hesitantly, the room in which his mother had spent her final weeks was right in front of him, looking almost exactly like it had done back then.

There was an almost empty desk standing underneath a large window at the opposite wall, a dresser with a TV on top of it beside it, and a single bed to his right with another window behind it, through which he could see out to the street in front of the house. A bedspread had been placed neatly over the covers, and there were a lamp and a few books on the nightstand, but nothing indicated that the room had been occupied in quite some time. In fact, going by the layer of dust that had settled on every surface in the room, Hunter was sure that it had been empty ever since his mother had died, and he somehow even suspected that his father hadn’t set another foot through the door after he had cleaned up the room in the days following his wife’s death.

Without the mercenary being able to stop it, his thoughts suddenly wandered back to those weeks, which had somehow made the months he had just spent in a war zone seem almost easy in comparison. When he had learned of his mother’s bad condition, Hunter had literally just finished the last mission of his second tour in Iraq, and when he had returned to the base, his C.O. in the SAS had approached him, telling him that his father had been trying to reach him. He barely even remembered anything of what either of them had said on the phone, when he had called him back, except that his father had wanted him to know that his mother was very sick and that she wasn’t going to get better.

The following twenty-four hours had passed him by in a blur while he had spent most of the time on one plane or another, returning to England and then making his way home for the first time in years. But in the end he had found himself in the exact same spot where he was standing now, in the doorway to his mother’s room, not really knowing what to say or do.

Even before Hunter had found out about his parents’ SHIELD history, he had always known that his mother had been as tough as they come. She had been extremely smart, not in a sciency way as his father, but very perceptive and clever, she had constantly made sure to keep herself in shape and even the way she had carried herself had proven what a remarkably strong woman she had been.

But when he had seen her again on that day, worn out by what he now knew had been years of suffering from the effects of a deadly poison, she had been nothing more than a shadow of her former self. While her mind had still been as sharp as ever, her body had already broken down completely, leaving her gaunt and pale, so unlike how she had used to be.

The mercenary shook his head, as if to chase away the ghosts of the past, sighing deeply as his eyes lingered on the neatly made bed for another moment.

“I just wish that you would have talked to me sooner,” he whispered into the silence of the room, his heart heavy with regret. “And that I would have listened sooner.” Because no matter how much he hated to admit it, Hunter knew that his father hadn’t been entirely wrong with his earlier accusation, that he had turned his back on his family after graduating from school and that leaving home to join the army had been his way of turning the tables on his parents for all the years they had kept him in the dark about _their_ lives.

In the years between moving out and his mother’s death, he had come home a grand total of three times, twice for her birthday and once for Christmas, but after that last visit had turned into a virtual disaster with one heated argument chasing the next, he had broken off pretty much any contact between them. He had rejected every attempt his mother had made to calm the waves between them and after a while she had simply stopped trying.

But when he had found out that she was going to die, and that she had been sick for a few years already with what he had then believed to be a heart condition, he hadn’t just been grief-stricken, but also completely furious with both his parents for not telling him any sooner. He still vividly remembered the argument he had had with his father in the kitchen that night, both of them doing their best not to raise their voices in order not to wake the sleeping woman upstairs.

 

 _“Six years! You’ve known she was going to die for_ six years _?“ he had asked his dad incredulously, unable to process what he had just heard._

_“No, we’ve known that she’s sick for six years now,” his father had explained, considerably calmer than the younger man, as he had had a lot more time to deal with what had been going to happen, “but at first we thought that your mother’s condition would be curable. But over time, when no treatment showed any effect on her and she just kept getting worse, no matter how slowly, we realised that she would only have a couple of years left.”_

_“And nobody thought that important enough to tell me?“ Lance had wanted to know, the all too familiar anger he had felt so many times when his parents had been keeping things from him in the past, building up inside of him again._

_“You’ve made it more than clear that you didn’t want anything to do with us,” his father had replied, his voice bitter. “Your mother tried to reach out to you several times, in letters, over the phone, but what was she supposed to do, blackmail you into coming home? Because that is what telling you about her condition would have felt like to her.”_

_The words had hit him incredibly hard, suddenly making Hunter realise what his stubbornness had cost him, and when he had finally replied, his eyes had been shining with unshed tears as the inevitability of what had been going to happen had finally registered._

_“She’s my mum, you should have told me that she’s going to die, that I’m going to lose her.” By then the sadness and grief in his voice had completely overshadowed the accusation, and when his father had answered him in return, Hunter had realised that throwing around blame at this point would have been utterly useless, because they had all been forced into a horrible situation, that neither of them had wanted, but that they had all needed to deal with in some way or another._

_“Yes, I know, but she’s also my wife, Lance, and I’m going to lose her, too. I spent years trying to find a cure for her, completely in vain, the least I could do was to respect her wishes.”_

 

Sighing once more, Hunter finally stepped back out into the corridor, closing the door to his mother’s old room behind him. Aside from the conversation he had had with Bobbi a couple of days ago, he hadn’t thought much about his parents or any of this in years and it was painful to have all these memories brought back to the surface now. When he had gotten out of bed this morning, his childhood home had probably been about the last place in the world he had expected to end up in, and despite the hours the flight from the base had taken, he still hadn’t really been prepared to face his father or the difficult history they shared.

But now that Hunter could remember vividly again how hard it had been to lose his mother, and not just for him, but for his father, too, he finally began to understand why the former agent was refusing to help them.

 

* * *

 

Bobbi and Robert Hunter had been sitting in silence for a few moments, both of them nursing their drinks, lost in their own thoughts.

After the former agent had just explained why he and his wife had kept their work as agents from their son, how they had been forced to choose between being honest and their duties to SHIELD, she couldn’t help but wonder if the choice they had made had been worth it. If the choice she herself had made between her marriage and her life as an agent had been worth it. Because she knew that while she had never actually made the decision to leave Hunter in favour of SHIELD, the secrets regarding her work she had been keeping from him during their relationship had been one of the main factors why it hadn’t been able to last.

But as Dr. Hunter now set his glass back down on the table and continued opening up to her, Bobbi snapped back to attention, looking at the scientist sitting opposite from her interestedly.

“When Katharine’s condition became worse and we realised that she wouldn’t have long, I knew that she wanted to tell Lance the truth, that we had been agents of SHIELD, and I actually asked her not to. Just because we had already left the agency didn’t mean that we were allowed to talk freely about it, but I wasn’t really angry when she did it anyway, because of course I could understand why.

Lies are a special kind of poison, they taint our relationships and even though Katharine knew that it was hardly enough to make up for all the stories we had told our son over the years and for all the things we hadn’t told him, she just didn’t want to take this particular secret to her grave.”

The former agent fell silent for a moment, but as Bobbi knew that this topic couldn’t be easy to talk about for him, she remained quiet, giving him the time he needed to continue.

“But obviously, once his mother was gone, Lance came to me looking for answers. Only that I simply couldn’t give him any. But apparently, by turning him down that day, in a way I actually did him a favour,” Dr. Hunter finished with a slight smile, causing Bobbi to look back at him in confusion.

“What do you mean?“ she asked, frowning.

“It’s been about five years since the last time I saw my son, and back then he was completely furious with me, because I still wouldn’t tell him anything about SHIELD, even after everything his mother had confessed to him, but by now he has been married to a SHIELD agent and is even working there himself. That’s not a coincidence, is it?” He was looking at the blond woman questioningly, his eyebrows raised slightly, but it wasn’t her who ultimately answered him.

“No, it’s not. As you wouldn’t tell me anything, I went looking for SHIELD myself, and that’s when I found Bobbi,” Hunter’s voice suddenly came from the doorway, where the mercenary was standing now, looking at the only two members of his family he had left.

“Hunter!” The blond agent was obviously worried that her ex had come back to continue right where he had left off, and that he was going to start another argument with his father any second now, but as he could anticipate her concern, he gave her a soft smile as he headed over to her to sit on the couch next to her.

“Don’t worry, love, I’m not here to pick another fight.” And once he had taken a seat and set his beer bottle down on the coffee table, noting the two whiskey glasses with a smirk, Hunter continued, looking at his father again this time.

“I’ve been thinking about what happened between us back then, and honestly, that you didn’t want to tell me about your work, it doesn’t even matter anymore. Because by now I’ve gotten a good long look at SHIELD, and I’ve seen it all, the good, the bad, the really really ugly, and despite all of that I’m still here. You may have started me down this road without wanting to or even realising that you were doing it, but that Bobbi and I got married, or that I’m still with SHIELD right now has nothing to do with you. I chose this life for myself, and I guess in a way I can even understand why you did, too,” he finished with a surprisingly content expression on his face, glancing over at Bobbi, who was looking back at him with appreciation.

But as much as his father obviously liked his sudden change of heart, he couldn’t help but wonder if there was something else behind it.

“I’m glad to hear that, Lance, and I really hope you know that I want you to be happy, but if you’re going to ask me again to come back with you to SHIELD-”

“I know why you don’t want to come,” the mercenary now announced, clearly startling both his father and Bobbi.

“And why is that?“ Dr. Hunter asked warily, scrutinising his son.

“Because of what happened to Mum. You tried to save her for years, but you couldn’t, you had to watch her die, and now you think it’ll just happen all over again. So you’d rather not try at all.” The silence that followed this observation stretched on for almost a minute as the former agent just kept looking at his son as if he hadn’t been able to see him properly before.

Ever since the countless times he had disappointed Lance as a child, their relationship had been difficult to say the least, sometimes hurtful even, and especially since the young man had moved out to join the military, they both had developed the tendency not to be able to think clearly when they were talking to each other. And even though he didn’t really understand what had caused this sudden change in his son, the former agent knew that this was without a doubt the most mature and sincere he had ever seen him and he suddenly realised that if there had ever been a chance for them to fix things between them it was now. But he also knew that the honesty that was required for that on his part, could also break them apart for good.

“You’re right,” the scientist finally admitted, nodding, “I have seen firsthand how much pain and suffering this poison can cause, I don’t need to see it again. But there’s also something else,” he announced ominously, causing both Bobbi and Hunter to glance at each other sceptically. But before either of them had the chance to say anything, he continued.

“You know, when I saw on the news last year what had happened in Washington, that the Triskelion had been destroyed and that it had been revealed that Hydra had been infiltrating SHIELD since its beginnings, for a while I couldn’t even believe it. I’ve spent decades of my life working for SHIELD, I never questioned my orders, but now I can’t stop wondering just how many times I’ve actually been doing Hydra’s work instead when I went out on a mission.”

As they both still didn’t know where this was going, Bobbi tried to be helpful by offering her own perspective on what had happened, as she could easily understand how much the former agent must have been feeling betrayed by his own agency.

“Honestly, I try not to think about it too much,” she admitted with a sad expression, even though she was unsure how any of this was connected to their current assignment. “After everything went down, I spent a few months undercover inside Hydra to get a closer look at their structure and to protect one of our agents, but to see what they were doing there, the things they were planning… it was… frightening to say the least. But what does that have to do with you not wanting to come with us? There is no trace of Hydra left within SHIELD, and if anything, Coulson is trying to undo the damage they have done in the past.”

“I know,” Dr. Hunter agreed freely. “That’s why I will give you all my research, and trust me, it will be very helpful, but after what happened the last time, I vowed to myself that I would never work for SHIELD or any other secret agency ever again.”

“Because of what happened to Mum?“ Hunter asked, only for his father to shake his head immediately.

“No, because of what I did, trying to save her.” As the scientist was met with a pair of uncomprehending expressions, he sighed heavily, well aware of the magnitude of what he was going to reveal now.

“I don’t need to see footage of Hydra’s attack last night to know exactly how dangerous the poison is you are up against. It was designed to kill not just quickly, but also as painfully as possible, and it sickens me to know that it is out there again. My notes contain everything your scientists will have to know to fight it, they won’t need my help. Actually, I’m not sure Phil would even want it if he knew the truth,” he finished with a regretful look on his face, finally prompting his son to demand a clear answer.

“What are you talking about, and how the bloody hell do you even know all that?”, Hunter burst out, his face slightly paler than before after everything his father had just said.

As their eyes met, the mercenary was suddenly absolutely certain that he would rather not hear the answer to his question after all, but now it was too late to back down again.

“I know all these things about the poison, because it’s my own creation, Lance. Because I’m the one who made it.”

**To be continued…**


	10. Another Chance

_“I know all these things about the poison, because it’s my own creation, Lance. Because I’m the one who made it.”_

At first, Hunter just stared at his father, utterly dumbfounded by this revelation, his mouth opening slightly, but without any sound coming out of it. He knew of course, that the older man was more than capable enough in his field to design something as deadly as the poison Hydra was now using, that was why they had come to recruit his help after all, but the mere notion that he could actually be responsible for it was completely unthinkable. Or at least it had been until a few seconds ago.

“You… you what?“ the mercenary now asked slowly, his mind still refusing to believe what his father had just told him. “What do you mean, you _made_ it? How… why…” he began, only to break off and start over. “We’re talking about the stuff that killed Mum here, so how could you have been the one who made it?”, he wanted to know, his anger rising.

But Robert Hunter immediately shook his head, obviously appalled by the mere idea of what his son was suggesting.

“No, I swear to you that I had nothing to do with what was done to your mother. That poison was naturally occurring and a lot less… effective compared to the one now in Hydra’s possession. That’s the one I created.”

Hunter looked at his father in silence for a few seconds, his expression disillusioned, but strangely accepting as he leaned back against the backrest of the couch.

“So you really _were_ Hydra, or probably you even still are; I hear it’s not something you retire from that easily,” he pointed out, causing the man in front of him to lean forward in his seat as if he were  trying to reach his son not just with his words.

“No, Lance, you don’t understand. Back then there _was_ no Hydra, or at least none that anyone knew off, there was only SHIELD. You said you’ve seen all the sides of the agency by now, and I’ll admit that I knew that this project was definitely on the ‘really, really ugly’ side, but… but I just couldn’t say no,” he finished, his voice sounding completely defeated. But the younger man wasn’t ready to let off just yet.

“And what exactly do you mean, when you say ‘you couldn’t say no’? It was a SHIELD operation, right, so I doubt they forced you to comply.” Shaking his head, the scientist shrugged briefly, knowing how difficult it had to be for his son to understand his actions.

“No, nobody forced me, but as cliché as it sounds, they simply made me an offer that was too good to refuse.”

“Alright, I think I have to stop you right there,” Bobbi suddenly chimed in, her supportive and almost calming attitude from before gone and replaced by the fierce agent persona she adopted when needed. “Because to me it sounds like you’re just admitting to not only creating a deadly biochemical weapon that already caused thirty-six deaths – that we know off – but also to withholding that and other possibly crucial information from us for the last hour.”

His mouth slightly agape in surprise, Hunter turned to his ex-wife, trying to reason with her.

“Bobbi, you think this is really necessary? Maybe we could handle this without the thumbscrews, alright?” But the agent just looked back at him in slight confusion, her brow furrowed.

“Hunter, your father had the intel we need this entire time, and instead of admitting it from the start, he had us jumping through hoops instead,” she replied angrily, clearly upset that she had not only not realised that the former agent had been keeping something from them, but also that she had allowed herself to relax around him and had even in a way begun to like him.

But the scientist obviously wasn’t willing to accept this accusation and answered her immediately, his voice tense.

“I already offered you my research data, so you could have been on your way again within minutes after you got here, but you just had to insist that I come with you, even though I told you that that is not going to happen.”

“To be honest, _before_ we were just asking politely, but I think now I might _actually_ have to insist,” Bobbi replied back, the threat hanging in the air for a moment, before Lance spoke up again, obviously more than uncomfortable with having to play the mediator between his ex and his father this time.

“Alright, so how about we all take a deep breath right now?“ he echoed the female agent’s words from earlier. “Bobbi, we’re not forcing my father to go anywhere against his will, is that clear? And Dad, you know that this all sounds really, really bad, don’t you?”, the mercenary asked, waiting in turn for both of them to nod in reply before continuing. “We’re not unreasonable,” he declared, glancing at Bobbi, “but you have to tell us what happened.”

Sighing, Dr. Hunter filled another small amount of the Scotch still standing on the table into his glass, and then just held it in his hand, watching the ember liquid thoughtfully.

“What do you want to know?“ he finally asked quietly, Bobbi being the first to reply.

“Everything,” she simply announced, her expression still reproachful.

“How about you start with what happened to Mum. I just know that she was poisoned, but Coulson didn’t say anything else, so what happened?“ Hunter asked, completely ignoring his ex-wife’s attitude now as he clenched his fist without realising, bracing himself for what he was about to hear.

“Alright, I guess it’s just fair that you know everything now. SHIELD’s secrets are all in the wind anyway, at least the ones I know.” The scientist took a deep breath and a sip from his drink, before putting it back down on the table and focusing on his son again.

“As I said before, the poison that was used against your mother was a naturally occurring one, it was the venom of a rare, almost extinct South American snake. About three years after you had moved out, your mother and I were on a mission in Ecuador, after we had received intel about an 0-8-4 that had been discovered there and that a local drug lord was trying to sell on the black market. Katharine had a pre-existing cover as an arms dealer which we used to get her access to the object, and at first everything went perfectly fine.

The initial contact had been established, and the plan was that as soon as Katharine had verified the authenticity of the 0-8-4, she and the two agents, who were posing as her bodyguards were going to extract it, a team standing ready as backup. I was her handler during the mission and part of the extraction team, but none of us had any idea that Katharine had already been made before she had even entered the compound.” He broke off at this for a moment, closing his eyes tightly, as he was obviously still filled with guilt and regret over the course of that mission, even after all these years.

As the former agent continued, he was obviously making sure to be as brief and objective as possible, not wanting his own involvement in the operation to cloud his judgement.

“The drug lord, a man named Aguirre, had poisoned her drink, using the venom of a rare snake that was apparently only found on his territory, and that was known for killing slowly and painfully. Then he shot the other two agents, obviously under the impression that they were her only backup. He never saw our team coming as we moved in, but even though we took him and his men out easily, at first I thought that we were already too late to save Katharine.

She was in the throws of a terrible seizure when I found her, out of her mind with pain, and as I didn't know exactly what substance had been used to poison her, I could take only general detoxification measures. I gave her all the medication I could, made her throw up to prevent any more of the poison from getting into her blood stream and managed to stabilise her enough so we could fly her out to the nearest SHIELD facility where I and several doctors continued her treatment.”

At this point, the scientist got up from his seat, obviously unable to face his son directly as he was forcing himself to relive his wife’s fate once more. He stepped in front of the large window leading out into the garden, his expression grim.

“Those were two of the longest days of my life, but then we thought we’d actually done it. The poison seemed to be out of her system completely, her vital signs were improving again and once she woke up, I was sure your mother would be fine. The venom would have been deadly if I hadn't reached her as quickly as I had, but at least for a few weeks, we thought we had gotten away with nothing more than a scare.

But that was when the seizures started. It was almost three weeks after the initial incident, while Katharine was preparing for her next mission, when she suddenly collapsed in pain and started convulsing like she had done when she had first been poisoned.

The drugs usually used against seizures barely showed any effect on her either, meaning that the doctors at SHIELD couldn't do much to help her and that the stress on her body was immense every time she had an attack.” And after a second’s hesitation he added, “that was also what killed her in the end, a heart condition caused by the constant strain. But off course nobody was thinking that far ahead at first, when we started testing your mother again to find out what was happening to her.

As it turned out, the snake venom had caused considerable damage to her brain, even though it wasn't affecting her general mental capacities and had therefore been hard to detect. And it seemed as if the poison had even attached itself to the damaged area, stopping it from healing on its own over time.”

So far, Hunter had just been sitting quietly, listening to his father’s explanations, but now as he finally began to understand what had really happened to his mother, he couldn’t help but feel even more horrified by what the older man had admitted earlier.

“Alright, so you tried to save mum, I get that, but you were right there with her, seeing firsthand what that poison was doing to her, so how exactly did that make you want to create an even deadlier version of it?” But the scientist shook his head, his tone exasperated as he replied.

“I never wanted to, but it wasn’t that easy,” he argued, Bobbi being the one who answered him this time.

“Then why don’t you go ahead and explain it to us, because the way I see it, you took something completely horrible and you actually managed to make it worse.”

The scientist nodded briefly, knowing that if he didn’t want his son to despise him for the rest of his life, he better had to make a good case for himself.

“Well, as I said, I had found out what was causing Katharine’s condition, her repeated seizures, and that she wasn’t going to get better on her own, so I did everything I could to save her. I had the full support of my C.O. and the rest of my superiors, even Director Fury and so I began working day and night on a cure, all of SHIELD’s resources and as many scientists as I needed at my disposal, but even with all of that, I still didn’t accomplish anything. The few times I actually thought we had finally found a cure, it was always just a week or two later until Katharine had another seizure and then it was back to square one again.

The first setbacks didn’t really discourage us, and everyone remained optimistic, but after a while, when we still hadn’t produced any kind of breakthrough, my superiors started assigning my team to other projects again, while I kept working with what I had left. I knew they were doing the only reasonable thing, as they couldn’t keep focusing so many agents on helping just one person, even if she was a part of SHIELD, but I couldn’t stop. I refused to take on any other cases, both when I was first asked politely and even when it was turned into an order. I could have taken my pick, I could have gone out into the field again or kept working in the lab, the onlycondition had been to stop investing all my time into trying to find a cure for Katharine, which was considered hopeless at that point.”

“But you didn’t,” Lance continued for him, knowing his father well enough to be absolutely certain that he would have never given up on his wife, despite all the things he had found out about him today.

“No, I didn’t,” the former agent agreed, smiling slightly as he glanced over at his son. “Instead I decided to quit SHIELD, hoping to find work at another lab that would allow me to continue my research at least on the side. Katharine had already made it clear that she didn’t want to stay if her only option was to work in administration and as her condition made anything else impossible, we both left the agency. Or at least that was the plan,” he admitted, falling silent once more and giving Bobbi the opportunity to speak up again.

“That was when you were recruited into Hydra, wasn’t it?“ she asked, her voice a lot less sympathetic than that of her ex-husband before.

“If you want to put it that way, yes, I guess so.” He sat down in his armchair once again, downing the rest of his drink in one gulp and then continued, his eyes avoiding both his son and his ex-daughter-in-law.

“It was on my last day, in fact, right as I was busy cleaning out my desk at the Hub, when an agent I didn’t even know approached me. His name was Hawkins and he said he was from SHIELD’s special weapons division and that it was his job to search for basically any material or substance that could be weaponised and used in our operations.

Apparently the snake venom that was slowly killing my wife had caught his attention and as I had done by far the most research on it, he wanted my help to synthesise and “improve” it, as he called it. I knew of course that SHIELD had projects like that running as well, in addition to our more clean-cut operations, but I had no interest in developing a weapon, especially not this one, so I was already about to turn him down, when he went into the details of his offer.

I would get a team of first class scientists to work with, but for security reasons, the actual work was supposed to take place outside of any main SHIELD facilities. And as they hadn’t decided on a location yet, he even offered me to install the lab here in the city, allowing me to be home with Katharine when I wasn’t at work. But the best part was that I would be allowed to use thirty percent of our time and resources to keep working on a cure for the original poison.” The former agent shook his head absentmindedly, reprimanding himself for the easiness with which he had been persuaded to work on something so against everything he had ever fought for. But at the same time, he was well aware that under the same circumstances, he would probably make the same decision all over again.

“I knew that even if I found another lab that would allow me to do my own research there, I would never get an opportunity like this again. Some more time with a good team and the proper resources, I thought that was all I needed, and so in the end I said yes.” The scientist finally fell silent, having finished his story. He wasn’t really sure if he felt more exhausted, after reliving all of these memories, or relieved after finally admitting the whole truth to his son, something he had never thought he would do. But now, for better or worse, everything was out in the open, and he knew that he had to face the fallout of his actions.

Lance was looking at him for several long moments, while Bobbi remained quiet, knowing that in this case it was his turn to say something first. But as he obviously wasn’t able to sit still any longer, just as his father earlier, the mercenary now stood up, taking his beer with him and beginning to pace the room.

“So, after pretty much everyone in SHIELD already told you to stop your research, somebody from special weapons just comes along and makes you an offer to create a deadly poison for them, basically even giving you your own lab, which just so happens to not be in any supervised facility, and that didn’t raise any flags?”, he asked incredulously, barely looking at the scientist, who immediately answered him, completely calm.

“I’m not an idiot, Lance, of course that raised a million flags, but-”

“But you didn’t care,” the younger man finished his sentence for him, stopping in his tracks now, staring angrily at his father.

A tense silence followed these words, stretching out until it became almost unbearable.

“No, I didn’t,” Robert Hunter finally confessed. “Obviously I didn’t know about Hydra back then, but honestly, I can’t even say if that would have made a difference. They were offering me another chance to save the love of my life, and I knew it was the best I would ever get, so I took it.”

**To be continued…**


	11. Be On Your Way

_"Obviously I didn’t know about Hydra back then, but honestly, I can’t even say if that would have made a difference. They were offering me another chance to save the love of my life, and I knew it was the best I would ever get, so I took it.”_

The room went silent once more after this confession, but this time the expression on Hunter's face as he kept watching his father wasn't angry or reproachful as before. Instead he glanced over at Bobbi briefly, the look in his eyes becoming a lot softer, almost understanding.

The images of the dying soldiers he had seen just a few hours ago were still etched into his memory all too clearly and he felt sick at the thought that his own father was at least in part responsible for that, but he also couldn't deny the fact that he was easily able to understand his reason for doing what he had done. After all, he himself had shot at his own team and risked countless civilians when he had tried to kill Carl Creel in order to avenge Hartley and Idaho, he couldn't even begin to imagine the things he would be willing to do if it meant saving Bobbi.

Not that she would ever forgive him for doing something as extreme as his father had done, of course, which now prompted his next question.

“What about mum, did she know?“ he asked, wondering if he had misjudged both of his parents so profoundly.

“What kind of work I was really doing? No, she had no idea,” the scientist replied, calming at least one of his son’s worries. “As far as everyone on the outside was concerned, I had started working at a private lab after leaving SHIELD, doing research for industrial use. She knew that I was still looking for a cure, but if she had even suspected the deal I had made for that, she would have probably killed me herself.” He smiled slightly to himself at this, vividly remembering his wife’s unshakable conviction.

“But to tell you the truth,” Dr. Hunter now continued, his expression darkening again, “before you two came here today, I wasn’t even sure if the poison I created still existed.”

“And why is that?“ Bobbi asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“Because there was a fire in the building where we had our lab not even a week before the end of the project. In a way, Katharine’s condition even saved my life that day, because I had been supposed to be there and supervise a final round of testing, but when I was about to leave in the morning, she had a particularly severe attack and I was almost two hours late when I finally got to the city. By then the entire building where we had our lab was in flames and the fire brigade wasn’t expecting to salvage much,” the scientist explained, still astounded over the luck he had had all those years ago.

“And do you think it was arson?”, Hunter asked, leaning with his arms on the backrest of the couch right behind Bobbi now.

“Officially there had been a gas leak in the lab on the floor directly below ours, and I don’t have any prove that says otherwise, but if you want just my opinion, then yes, it was. Several members of my team were killed in the fire and going by what Agent Hawkins told me during a brief meeting we had a few days later, most of the research and every sample of the poison had been destroyed. He said that for various reasons, SHIELD wasn’t interested in reviving the project at the moment, but that they wouldn’t forget about me if they ever changed their mind.”

“You told us that you have detailed notes about all of your research, didn’t he want to have those?“ Bobbi wondered, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she continued to be sceptical about every single word that came out of the former agent’s mouth.

“He probably would have, had he known that they existed,” Dr. Hunter replied, a small grin on his lips. “We weren’t allowed to take any data about the poison out of the lab, but I was able to hide the information between my files on Katharine’s case, which they couldn’t forbid me to take home. As I said before, the entire project was suspicious enough to raise about a million flags, so I felt that it was better to keep a little backup file, just in case.”

“Alright, good thinking,” his son agreed, standing up straight again and taking another sip from his beer, emptying the bottle. “Now we’re going to need everything you have on this, every file, every flip-chart, or whatever you science people like to work with and then Bobbi is right, we really have to get going,” he announced, stepping next to the table to set the bottle down.

“I’ll get you all my notes, as I promised, but my decision hasn’t changed, Lance. I’m not a part of SHIELD anymore and-”

“Of course you are”, the mercenary interrupted him, startling not just his father, but Bobbi as well with his resoluteness. “You know, when I started working for SHIELD, at first it was just an operation here and there, nothing big, and the only thing I really cared about was that the money was good. Even when I joined Coulson’s team, I was still convinced that SHIELD was just a job, means to an end, but by now I think I figured out that for some people, maybe even for me, I don’t know, it’s more than that. It’s a life,” he finished, glancing over at his ex-wife briefly, who looked back at him with a faint smile.

After studying his son for a moment, Dr. Hunter sighed heavily, something inside of him still struggling against the idea of working for SHIELD again, even this once and facing one of his former friends from his days in the agency.

“I can’t help you any more than my research notes can. I keep them upstairs. I’ll get them for you and then you really should be on your way,” he simply declared, before getting up from his seat and heading out into the hallway without giving anyone the chance to reply. But Hunter obviously wasn’t willing to accept his father’s decision, and after he had stared after him for a few seconds, utterly speechless, his expression hardened once again and he started to follow him determinedly, before the older man had even made it up the stairs.

“Just give me a moment, alright, I’ll handle this,” he called back to Bobbi, not even waiting for a reply as he headed up to the second floor now, too, knowing instinctively that his father must have hidden the research data somewhere in his mother’s old room.

“And you really think this is it? That you can just hand me a bunch of files and your part in this is done?“ he all but shouted as he saw the older man heading through the door. He followed him until he was standing right in the doorway, glaring at the scientist’s back angrily. “Thirty-six people died just last night and who knows how many more Hydra secretly killed over the years with the poison _you_ created,” Hunter exclaimed furiously, finally prompting his father to turn around to him.

“A lot, I would guess. It’s ironic in a way, isn’t it? All this time, all I wanted to do was to find a cure, but I failed over and over again, but the moment someone asked me to turn this poison into a weapon, something that could cause horrible agony and death, I excelled at it,” he pointed out with a humourless chuckle.

Scrutinising the former agent for a moment, and seeing how heavily this whole situation seemed to be weighing down on him, Hunter took a deep breath and tried to take a more understanding approach this time as he continued.

“Well, maybe now’s your chance to try again,” he suggested, hoping that his dad would finally realise that it was in his own interest to come back to SHIELD. But it quickly became obvious that he wasn’t there yet, when he continued.

“Don’t you think it’s a little late for that? Once you tell Phil what I did, he’ll be glad you left me behind,” the former agent argued, prompting his son to look back at him in confusion.

“Honestly, I think it’s been way too long since you met the guy, because that sounds nothing like the Phil Coulson I’m working for. Even though he can be kind of an arsehole sometimes,that man’s all about giving second chances and once you tell him what you just told Bobbi and me, I know he’ll understand it.” But, as the older man was still hesitating, the mercenary was quickly getting frustrated again, and so he continued in a much harsher tone.

“But yeah, of course it’s a lot easier to hide out here than to come back with us and face what you’ve done. But whether you want to deal with it or not, all those people Hydra killed, that blood is on _your_ hands, too!” A part of him regretted the words as soon as they had left his mouth, but Hunter was simply too stubborn right now to apologise. Instead he watched the hurt expression that briefly flickered over his father’s face with a guilty conscience, before the scientist turned his back on him for a moment and headed to the desk at the opposite wall.

There he opened one of the drawers and picked up a slim folder at which he looked for a few seconds in silence, his voice tense as he finally replied to his son’s outburst.

“Don’t you think I know that, Lance?“ he asked, facing the younger man again, genuine remorse in his eyes. “I never wanted-”, he began, but suddenly broke off abruptly, a pained noise escaping his throat and a startled expression on his face as the folder slipped from his fingers, cluttering to the floor.

Hunter’s eyes widened in shock as the scene in front of him unfolded, without his brain being able to process any of it. There had been the distinctive sound of glass breaking coming from his right, telling him that something had smashed through the window to the street, and a few wet drops had hit his face, but he still couldn’t connect any of it to the sight in front of him, of his father suddenly clutching at his neck or the frightening amount of blood that was now running down the front of his shirt.

It was obvious that neither of the two men had completely grasped what was happening, but as the scientist’s knees all of a sudden gave out underneath him, his son at least snapped out of his initial stupor to catch him before he could hit the floor.

“Dad!“ he screamed loudly in a horrified voice he barely recognised himself, but even though he managed to reach his father quickly, he could barely slow down his fall, which ended in a painful impact on the ground. Hunter ended up kneeling next to him, all his instincts and his experience forgotten as he looked down at the man he had felt like strangling only moments ago, but whose life now was the only thing that mattered to him.

“Dad!“ he repeated desperately, though softer than before, bringing his hands down on the jagged wound on his father’s neck in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Hunter’s training and his years of combat experience were shouting at him, telling him that, going by the sickening amount of blood he had already lost, his father’s carotid artery must have been shredded, meaning that there was absolutely nothing he could do for him and that he was already dead, even though he was still looking up at him, shock and fear in his eyes.

“Lance…”, Robert Hunter now choked out, hardly intelligible, his strength fading quickly, his skin already deathly pale from the loss of blood.

“Hold on, Dad, I’ve got you, it’s going to be alright,” the mercenary uttered in return, barely realising what he was saying. “Just… just hold on!”

“Lance… the dra…”, the former agent started again, only for his son to shake his head, tears in his eyes.

“Just… don’t talk, alright? Your neck looks really bad, I don’t want you to make it worse.” The look in his father’s eyes was telling him with absolute certainty that there was no way he could possibly make his injury any worse than it already was, but as he didn’t have the strength to say any of this out loud, he just focused on trying to get out at least a few more words.

“The… the dra… drawer. Don’t let them… get…” But as Dr. Hunter now broke off again, it wasn’t just because of his lack of strength. This time he had completely stopped moving, his mouth still slightly agape and his eyes staring up at his son blindly.

“No!”, the younger man uttered desperately, still not thinking clearly as he shook the former agent, searching his face for any sign of life, just as Bobbi came running down the corridor, only to stop dead in her tracks in the doorway.

“Hunter!“ she shouted at him, trying to get her ex-husband’s attention as she took in the situation in a single glance. But as he wasn’t reacting to her, and didn’t even show any sign that he was aware of her presence, the blond agent practically lunged forward, pulling the mercenary away from his father’s body, and bringing them both against the side of the bed, which was now protecting them from sight from the front window, just as a bullet slammed into the wall right where Hunter’s head had been a second ago.

After taking a moment to make sure that the man beside her was uninjured, Bobbi activated her earpiece, her voice tense, but still in control.

“Trip, please tell me you’re there. We need you here, right now!”

“Of course I’m here, what happened?”, the agent asked, biting back any joking remark he might have wanted to make at hearing the urgency in his team mate’s voice.

“We’re under fire and we need an extraction _now_. We’re on the second floor and as far as I can tell, the shots are coming from the house across the street. But I bet, whoever this is, they’ll have a team ready to take us out up close any minute, so you’ll have to hurry!“ she ordered, her eyes trained on the doorway as she was trying to listen for any movement inside the house.

“I’m taking off now, just hold tight, I’ll be there in a few seconds,” Trip promised before he went silent, focusing on the controls of the Quinjet.

Doing her best to keep her composure, despite the fact that her dead ex-father-in-law was lying only a few feet away from her, Bobbi took a deep breath and pulled out the gun she had been carrying in a holster concealed under her jacket, once more relieved that she had the iron rule never to go unarmed on a mission, no matter how mundane it seemed. And as her usual weapon of choice, her batons had been out of the question, she had had to pick between a knife and a gun, and was of course glad now to have picked the latter.

“Hunter, just stay in cover, okay? Trip’s coming to get us out of here,” she assured the mercenary, turning her head slightly to look at him, although she still wasn’t sure that he even knew she was there. But then his brow furrowed almost unnoticeably and at least her words finally seemed to register with him.

“Trip…” he murmured, his eyes never leaving the unmoving body in front of him. “Trip… he’s got medical training, right? I mean, that’s good… that’s good, isn’t it?“ the distraught mercenary asked, and then nodded, answering his own question. “Yeah, ‘course it is. My… my dad, he needs… he needs a doctor.”

Even though she could only guess how traumatising all of this had to be for her ex, Bobbi was caught completely off guard by his obvious denial, but before she had the chance to reply anything, Hunter continued, looking directly at her this time.

“Bobbi, we need to get him to a hospital,” he pleaded with her, his voice urgent and desperate, his eyes filled with unshed tears.

Seeing him like this almost made the blond agent tear up herself, but she knew that she couldn’t, that she had to hold it together for his sake.

“Hunter, listen to me, okay? Your father…” she began, only to stop herself and start over. “Your dad, he’s gone and there’s nothing we can do for him now, except make sure that at least we get out of here alive. I know this is hard, but please, you have to pull yourself together, alright?”, she asked, but as she still wasn’t sure if she had actually reached him, Bobbi laid one hand on the short-haired man’s cheek gently but determinedly, making sure he was looking at her.

“Lance, please, I need you to do this for me. Just focus for two more minutes until we’re out of here, because I can’t lose you now. Can you do that?” She continued to look straight at him until the mercenary finally nodded, the haze that had seemed to be clouding his mind just moments ago lifting again as he looked at her clearly for the first time since Bobbi had entered the room.

“Yeah, yeah sure, I can do that,” he muttered, his eyes shifting back to his father’s unmoving body, and the blood that had already formed a pool around his neck. Then he noticed that the folder his father had retrieved from the desk earlier was still lying next to the dead scientist, stained with blood, and Hunter’s mind snapped back to the last thing he had said to him.

“The drawer,” he muttered quietly to himself, attracting Bobbi’s attention.

“What?“ she asked, confused, but before she could react, the mercenary was already moving, getting out of the relative safety next to the bed.

“Cover me!”, he quickly instructed, forcing the agent to turn around and start shooting out the window, while Hunter lunged for the desk at the wall opposite from the door, practically ripping the still open drawer that had earlier contained the folder out of it. Bobbi cursed under her breath at his reckless behaviour, but after she had fired two rounds almost blindly through the window, shattering the glass completely, she suddenly stopped, realising that they weren’t going to hit anyone on the other side of the street, because there was something in the way, stopping them.

“Stop shooting at me, will you? If you break the cloaking, Mack’s gonna be pissed,” she could now hear Trip’s voice coming over the earpiece, causing her to heave a sigh in relieve in response.

“I got you covered up here for now, but you gotta get out of there. Grab the target and then get to the back of the building. The garden looks just big enough for me to pick you up, I might smash a few flowerbeds and maybe a fence or two, but there’s no way I’m letting you go out on that street.” At first Bobbi wanted to tell Trip immediately that they had lost their target, Hunter’s father, but as she looked at the mercenary, who was just barely clinging to his sanity right now, she couldn’t bring herself to say it, not just yet at least.

“Alright, just give us another moment up here, then we’ll head out the back,” she told him, before focusing her attention back on Hunter once more, who was kneeling in front of the desk right now, looking frantically at several items lying on the ground, the content of the now empty drawer he had just pulled out.

“I asked you to focus, not to jump out of cover and right into the line of sight of whoever is out there!“ the agent pointed out angrily, her fear for the mercenary’s life making her forget any leniency she might have wanted to show him in light of what had just happened.

“‘The drawer’, that’s what he said. There has to be something here, something important,” he insisted, but was quickly disheartened as all the items he was looking at turned out to be just ordinary office supplies.

“What about this folder,” Bobbi now asked as she picked up the collection of files Hunter had already pulled out of the pool of blood.

“Yes, take it,” he agreed, but without even lifting his eyes from the things he was looking at. “But there is something else here, there has to be. ‘ _The drawer_. _Don’t let them get’_ , that was the last thing he said, so why is there nothing here?”, he finally shouted furiously, throwing a pencil sharpener against the wall angrily.

Realising that Hunter was probably really onto something and that he definitely wasn’t going to leave until he had found whatever it was his father had wanted him to find, Bobbi went over to him and knelt down opposite from her ex, glancing quickly at the items on the ground, her brow furrowing slightly.

“Okay, so you think that there’s something hidden in the drawer, and considering who your father used to work for, you might be right, but why aren’t you doing what he said?” And at Hunter’s confused look, she elaborated.

“These things were all inside the drawer, but what if it’s actually the drawer itself?” Going by his expression, the mercenary obviously wasn’t sure if he should slap himself for his stupidity or kiss Bobbi for her quick thinking, but in the end he opted for neither and simply picked up the wooden drawer again, pushing and pulling at it until he really found a hidden compartment underneath the fake bottom. Inside of it was a small flash drive, taped down to not slide around, but just as Hunter had taken it and stuffed it into a pocket of his jacket, they could hear several footsteps coming from the ground floor, signalling that they weren’t alone in the house anymore.

“We need to go, now!“ Bobbi announced determinedly, but as Hunter’s eyes were fixated on the dead body on the floor next to them once more, she knew that the two minutes she had asked him for were quickly coming to an end.

“Lance, I’m sorry, but we need to leave him. Come on,” she instructed fiercely, but quietly enough not to give away their location, “I know your father would never forgive me if I’d let anything happen to you now,” she pointed out, pulling her ex-husband to his feet and out into the hallway.

But as whoever was coming for them now was almost at the stairs already, heading back downstairs the way they had come was out of the question. Instead, Bobbi dragged Hunter down the corridor and towards the back of the building, her eyes frantically searching for a way out.

“We need to get out into the garden behind the house, is there any way down from here?”, she whispered as the footsteps were coming up the stairs now. Nodding, Hunter pulled her towards the last door on the left, just as the first bullets started to fly past them, embedding themselves in the far wall. Bobbi glanced behind her to get at least a brief look at who was after them, and when she saw the all too familiar black combat gear and the masked faces of their attackers, she fired a few rounds back to buy them more time, before following her ex through the door of what turned out to be the master bedroom.

She quickly slammed the door close behind her and locked it, just as Hunter made his way to the large window to the back of the house, opening it.

“Is there maybe a way to get out of here without breaking any bones?,” she asked, bewildered, even though she knew that a broken leg would still be preferable to the firing squad that was waiting for them back in the hallway.

“What, don’t you trust me?”, Hunter asked in return, but instead of the playful grin that would have usually been plastered on his face right now, there was nothing more than a brief quirk of his lips, before he suddenly jumped out of the window without hesitation, causing Bobbi to almost lunge forward, visibly worried about him. But as she looked outside, she realised that there was a solid canopy over the back porch which had stopped his fall, allowing her to follow her ex easily now, right when a series of bullets took out the lock on the door.

As she and Hunter finally found themselves on the ground, both safe and sound, Bobbi looked up into the sky, searching for a sign of their rescue.

“Trip, where are you?“ she asked, unable to keep the tension out of her voice, but not even a second later, the Quinjet suddenly uncloaked, still several meters above them, but descending quickly.

“Hold your horses, girl, I’m right here. I’m gonna drop the ramp now, so make sure to get in as soon as I’m on the ground, alright?”, he asked light-heartedly, still in the dark about the devastating turn their mission had taken.

“Copy that,” Bobbi replied, still holding her gun tightly, while she was clutching the folder with her other hand, trying not to think about the fact that it was covered in Robert Hunter’s blood. She glanced behind her, back to the house several times in the mere seconds it took for Trip to land the jet, but the squat that had been attacking them either hadn’t made it back down from the second floor yet, or they simply didn’t want to try their luck against the massive jet landing behind the house now.

Either way, there was no more gunfire as she and Hunter hurried towards the ramp and inside the Quinjet, where Bobbi immediately headed towards Trip to give him instructions.

“Close the ramp and get us out of here right now! That was a Hydra team that was just trying to shoot us, I recognised their tactical outfits, and I don’t want to stay and find out if they brought any heavier equipment.”

But as soon as he had flipped the switch that caused the ramp to close behind them, Trip turned around in his seat to look at the rest of his team, his expression darkening instantly as he noticed their appearance and the fact that there was one person less present than he had expected.

“I can get us out of here in a second, don’t worry, but what about Agent Hunter, why isn’t he…”, but he didn’t need to finish the question, as the looks on both of his friends’ faces were telling him everything he needed to know.

“Damn, I’m… I’m so sorry,” he offered, not really knowing what else to say, but Bobbi just nodded briefly, too exhausted to really explain anything yet.

“Just… get us back home, alright?”

“Sure,” Trip agreed, before turning back around and focusing on the jet’s controls once more, knowing that he couldn’t do anything else at the moment, anyway.

Finally sure that they were safe now, that she had done everything she could to get both herself and Hunter out of this mission alive, Bobbi sighed and closed her eyes briefly, already feeling the events of the last few minutes catching up with her. She tossed the folder she had still been holding onto one of the seats and holstered her weapon again, before finally turning around, her breath catching in her throat as her eyes fell on Hunter.

The mercenary was still standing in the back of the jet, where he had most likely simply stopped moving, the moment he had gotten himself to safety. The look on his face was just as lost as when she had found him kneeling over his dead father, if not even more so, and only now did she really register the blood on his hands and the drops of it on his face, which must have sprayed on him when the older man had been shot.

Doing her best to hold back the tears in her eyes, Bobbi finally crossed the distance between them, and wrapped her arms around her ex tightly, pressing herself against him. She tried to come up with something to say, anything to console him right now, but as she couldn’t think of anything, she simply remained silent, her breathing trembling slightly as she did her best not to cry.

They just stood like this for a while, the blond agent with her arms around the mercenary, underneath his leather jacket, her head resting on his shoulder, while he still wasn’t responding to her, remaining utterly shell-shocked. But Bobbi didn’t let go, as she knew that being here for Hunter was the only thing she could do right now and after what felt like an eternity, there was suddenly something wet dripping onto her neck and the next second the mercenary had his arms around her, his face buried into her shoulder as he was crying silently, her presence being the only thing that kept him from falling apart entirely.

**To be continued…** _  
_


	12. It’s Always Going To Hurt

Director Coulson was standing in the Playground’s hangar, a sombre expression on his face as he watched the Quinjet slowly descending through the open hangar doors and landing a safe distance away from the Bus in its usual position.

A few hours ago, he had been looking forward to this moment, excited to see one of his oldest friends within SHIELD again and to work with him once more, even at the risk of having to hear the younger Hunter bitch and moan about his father’s presence during the entire duration of his stay, but now after Agent Triplett had contacted him with an update on the mission and he had briefly talked to him and Agent Morse and had found out what had happened, there was a leaden feeling in his stomach, intensifying with every second.

Robert Hunter was dead, assassinated by Hydra, just as he was passing his information about their new favourite weapon on to SHIELD, and Coulson knew that that couldn’t have been a coincidence. He still needed to hear the full mission report, but going by what he had learned so far, that the former agent had actually been a part of the team that had created the poison used in last night’s attack, it only made sense that Hydra must have known, or at least anticipated, that someone would come looking for him sooner or later. They must have had a team in position, waiting to see who would turn up on the scientist’s doorstep and once they had found out where he had kept the intel on the project, they had taken him out, almost managing to kill the SHIELD team on site in the process as well.

Almost.

Director Coulson heaved a heavy sigh as he tried to focus on the one bright spot of this mission, and that was that his people had not just managed to recover what was most likely invaluable intel, but that, most importantly, they had returned safe and sound. Or as safe and sound as they could be, after one of them had had to witness his own father being shot right in front of him.

As the ramp of the jet finally opened, Hunter and Bobbi stepped out a few seconds later, and Coulson was involuntarily reminded of the day Isabelle Hartley and Idaho had been killed and the mercenary had walked into his office several hours later, after his meeting with General Talbot, his white t-shirt underneath his leather jacket stained over and over with the female agent's blood.

This time Hunter’s shirt wasn't white, but a light brown colour, but it still didn't do anything to hide all the blood he must have tried to wipe from his hands rather unsuccessfully. But despite his appearance, the look on the mercenary’s face was surprisingly calm and collected, nothing like the anger Coulson had been met with after the mission during which they had first encountered the obelisk.

But as Hunter now approached him, the director also remembered all too clearly that he hadn't exactly shown the younger man a lot of sympathy that day, even though he had lost two of his friends, and he knew that that wasn't something he wanted to repeat today.

"Hunter," he began, but before he could say anything else, the mercenary immediately interrupted him, pulling something out of his jacket in the process.

"My dad literally spent his last breath telling me where to find this, so you better make bloody sure it was worth it,” he told Coulson, handing him a small flash drive in the process. But as Hunter was already about to walk away, he hesitated for a second, his expression darkening even further.

"He said his notes were so good that we wouldn't even need his help. I guess now we’ll have to find out." After that, he turned away from the director and walked out of the hangar without another word, but as Bobbi, who had been right next to him this entire time, was already about to follow him, Coulson held her back, even though he could easily understand her need to be there for her ex-husband right now.

"Bobbi, I need to know exactly what happened. Mission debriefing in my office, now." The agent stopped dead in her tracks, obviously torn, her eyes darting from the director to the corridor through which Hunter had just vanished and back again.

"Sir, I know that this is important, but can't it-"

"No, I'm afraid this can't wait,” Coulson cut her off, his expression grim. “Because there has been another attack.”

 

* * *

 

Hunter wasn't really sure how he had ended up in here. As a matter of fact, he wasn’t even completely sure where 'here' exactly was.

He vaguely remembered aimlessly making his way through the corridors of the base and taking a left turn somewhere around the science lab, and now he was sitting on the floor in a long, almost empty room, leaning with his back against one of the walls, which stretched on far enough to almost make him feel like he was inside a tunnel instead. He figured that this had probably been some kind of testing range at some point, going by the few scorch marks and bullet holes at one of the ends of the room, but now there was nothing left in here except from a few dusty shelves at the wall and a large, surprisingly clean metal table and chair in the centre.

The mercenary had no idea for how long he had been sitting here. Going by the fact that his jacket was gone and he was wearing clean clothes again, he must have stopped by his bunk at some point after getting off the Quinjet, but he had to admit that he had absolutely no recollection of that.

But one thing he did remember from before he had found himself in here were the sympathetic, even pitying looks some of the agents he had walked past had given him. Despite the organisation's penchant for secrecy, a SHIELD base was obviously still a place where gossip travelled fast, and by now every single agent in the compound seemed to have heard of what had happened, how he had not just failed to protect the scientist, he and Bobbi had been assigned to bring in, but how he hadn't been able to do anything but watch as his own father had been killed right in front of him.

Hunter ran his hands through his short hair in a helpless gesture, not really knowing what to do or even what to feel, as he was still having trouble to even accept what had happened. Five years ago when his mother had died, he had of course been devastated as well, but while he had also been angry at his parents for not telling him about her condition sooner, and for all the secrets they had still been keeping from him, he had been able to grieve for her nevertheless. He had gotten the opportunity to say goodbye to her and despite everything, they had been able to make their peace with each other. Something he and his father would now never get the chance to do.

 _"All those people Hydra killed, that blood is on_ your _hands, too!"_ Even now the words were still running through his mind over and over again, making Hunter bite his tongue hard enough to draw blood as he wished desperately that he would have said something, anything else instead, or at least apologised for his outburst as he had known even at the time he should have, just so that this horrible accusation wouldn't have been the last thing he had ever said to his father before he had bled out on the floor in front of him.

The mercenary squeezed his eyes shut as he slammed his fist on the hard concrete floor, and as he tried to take a deep breath to calm himself, it was ragged and shaky instead, mirroring his inner turmoil perfectly.

His father was dead. The man with whom, before today, he had never had a completely honest conversation in his life, and whom he had spent half of that life hating, was gone, and despite all of that, despite the resentment he had been feeling towards him for the last twenty years, losing him now was hurting so much that Hunter almost couldn't breathe.

At first, back in his family’s house, he had been too shocked and horrified to really feel the pain, and on the flight back in the Quinjet it had simply overwhelmed him, but now after he had already had some time to actually process what had happened, Hunter felt as if his loss was tearing him apart as his sorrow was mixing with his guilt and a desire for revenge, which he knew would only become stronger the longer he had to dwell on it.

Hunter was now resting his head back against the wall behind him, only concentrating on his breathing for a moment, a grief-stricken expression on his face, and a part of him actually would have given anything to go back to the initial numbness he had felt right after watching his father being shot. Back there in that room as he had watched him bleed to death, in the same room where his mother had died five years earlier and which his father had never even entered again until today, the mercenary had been so completely out of it that he hadn’t even been able to feel the pain. Not really anyway.

No, in that moment, before he had even been able to process what was happening, his mind had been so overwhelmed with shock, fear and panic, that nothing else had really registered, and in a way that seemed a lot preferable to the way his entire being was aching right now, and how his head was still reeling, unable to slow down.

But of course, the mercenary was also well aware of the fact that if it hadn’t been for Bobbi, him shutting down like that at his father’s death would have most likely cost him his own life, as he had practically been a sitting duck, just waiting to be taken out by Hydra’s sniper as well. Without his ex-wife, he would have been lying on that floor, too, his entire family wiped out in a few moments.

But just as he had realised that he hadn’t even thanked her for that, Hunter’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted as the door of the room opened unexpectedly. For a brief moment he thought that Bobbi had found him, but then he realised that it was Agent Fitz who entered, almost disappearing behind all the equipment he was carrying and which he now put down on the table in the centre of the room.

Hunter's brow furrowed slightly in confusion as he looked at all the weird technical gadgets that were the engineer's daily tools, but which might as well have been alien, considering how little he understood any of them, and spotted what seemed to be a toy car among them. But after briefly running the back of his hand across his eyes, the mercenary immediately cleared his throat to let the scientist know he was here, not wanting to startle him any more than necessary.

As soon as he became aware of someone else's presence in the room, Fitz spun around, and going by the look on his face, Hunter was probably the last person he would have ever expected to find in here.

"Hunter, why are you... ? Aren't you... I thought you were gone on a mission," the engineer wondered haltingly, his surprise making it harder for him to concentrate on the right words.

"Well, we already came back," Hunter simply replied, doing his best to keep his voice even as he tried not to reveal his current desolate state, but then something suddenly occurred to him and he looked at Fitz scrutinisingly. "You haven't heard about it yet, have you?“ he observed to the scientist's slight confusion.

"Haven't heard about what?“ Leo asked in return, clearly not liking the idea of being kept out of the loop. "Simmons and her team are working in the lab and they're being very...", he waved one hand around absentmindedly, trying to think of the right expression.

"Noisy?“ Hunter offered

"Yes, that, too," Fitz agreed, even though it was obviously not the word he had been looking for. Hunter's brow furrowed for a moment as he was thinking, then he tried again.

"Distractive," he suggested this time, causing Fitz to nod in agreement.

"Yes, that's it. That's why I've been focusing on my own projects and I find this room to be a good place to... to get some work done."

"Not a team player, eh?“ Hunter asked with a weak smirk, but as he noticed the way Fitz's face fell at what had been supposed to be an innocent remark, the mercenary kicked himself mentally, reminding himself that the young scientist wasn’t exactly the best target for his usual cockiness.

"I used to be, or at least I was with Simmons, but ever since...", Leo’s mouth opened and closed a few times silently before he finally continued. "I find it hard to explain... what I'm doing and that makes it complicated to… to work with anyone," he justified his behaviour, obviously frustrated by his difficulties to form even a few simple sentences. But Hunter just shrugged as he now got up from his position on the floor and headed over to the table to take a closer look at the things the scientist had put down on there.

"Well, don’t worry, mate, with me you wouldn't have to bother either way. I don't have a clue what any of this stuff is and I know I wouldn't get it even if you explained it to me perfectly." At this point his eyes focused once more on the red miniature car that was standing in the middle of the table, which he now picked up, his eyebrows rising slightly as he looked at the small figure sitting inside of it, that looked very much like a SHIELD agent in the tiny black suit it was wearing.

"As we’ve already established, I have no technical skills whatsoever, so to me this actually looks like it's just a toy car and not the fancy high-tech spying equipment it probably is," he pointed out, only to be appropriately surprised at Fitz's reply.

"Actually, that _is_ a toy," the scientist admitted with a slightly embarrassed grin. "Mack made it for Coulson, because you know, it's Lola."

"Coulson's car?“ Hunter asked in return, the tone of his voice both sceptical and amused. "The one Skye mentioned could fly?"

"Yes, that one," Fitz replied, his excitement about his project already beginning to show. "It's just that this model, it doesn't fly. But I'm planning to change that." Hunter looked from the toy back to the scientist at this, startled, and despite how horrible he was still feeling at the moment, his eyes lit up noticeably and a genuine grin appeared on his lips at the idea that Leo Fitz, one of the smartest people he had ever met and one of SHIELD's top scientists, was spending his time working on model cars, trying to get them to fly to be more precise.

"And where’s Mack? Isn't he going to help you?“ the mercenary now wondered, slightly surprised that his tall friend wasn't here already to keep working on what he had apparently built, but Fitz seemed to get a little uncomfortable at the question and started arranging his tools before he finally replied.

"Well, he's most likely busy with his own work at the moment. And also, maybe I did not exactly wait to ask him first," he admitted, but as he obviously didn't want to dwell on this particular point for much longer, the scientist quickly changed the subject, much to Hunter's dismay.

"I heard you and Agent Morse got to fly to England on your mission. I mean, of course I like working here in the States, but it’d still be great if we ever had an operation in Scotland, you know? Almost like going back home, wasn’t it?“ he asked with an almost wistful smile, having no idea how spot-on he actually was.

Hunter, who had just been examining the model car in his hands more closely, suddenly froze in his movements, his breath catching in his throat as he tried to answer. He knew of course that the scientist hadn't meant to remind him of what had happened – not that anything could possibly distract him from that for even a second – and that it was actually the fact that Fitz was still in the dark about what he had been through and therefore wasn't looking at him with pity in his eyes like everyone else, that was the reason why he was still here, but his innocent remark had still hit him a lot deeper than he liked to admit.

But if he didn’t want to have to explain his sudden strange behaviour, the mercenary knew that he had to reply and so he finally nodded, forcing himself to speak again.

"Yeah," he choked out after a very long moment, his voice hollow to mask his pain, but he couldn’t quite keep the anguished expression out of his eyes and so he remained focused on the model car in his hands, hoping that Fitz hadn’t noticed.

But even though he might not have been as perceptive as he used to be, the effects of his words weren't lost on the scientist, although he wasn't exactly sure what had been so bad about what he had said. But in the end he arrived at the only conclusion that made any sense to him and Fitz put the tool he had just been holding back down on the table, his expression darkening slightly.

"Your mission… it didn't go well, did it?“ he asked, prompting the mercenary to shake his head almost unnoticeably.

"No, it didn't,” Hunter admitted, putting the car back down on the table, sighing. “But honestly, I’m kind of trying to avoid debriefing right now, so…”, he trailed off, hoping that Fitz would get the hint that he didn’t really want to talk about the details of the operation.

“Yeah, sure, you don’t have to tell me, unless you want to. But-”, Fitz started, only for Hunter to interrupt him midsentence.

“But you came here to work by yourself, and as I think I generally qualify as both ‘noisy’ and ‘distractive’, I better get out of your hair, right?“ the mercenary asked with an unconvincing smile, obviously not wanting to leave, but rather offering to go himself, than to be kicked out by the engineer. But going by the confused look on Fitz’s face, the scientist didn’t have a clue where any of this had suddenly come from.

“No,” he replied, shaking his head sincerely, “that’s not what I was going to say. I was going to say that I could actually use some help with this project, and it could take a while, so if you’d like to a… a…”

“Assist you?”

“Yes, then you probably won’t get to debrief Coulson for another few hours.” Leo had a perfectly innocent look on his face as he waited for Hunter to reply, and the mercenary was more than grateful that he didn’t make much of an issue of the fact that he was essentially hiding down here, but instead even facilitated him by giving him a reason to stay.

“Well, we already did save the Bus and everyone’s lives together, I bet if I lend you a hand, we’re going to have mini-Lola here up and flying in no time,” Hunter announced optimistically, his expression actually brightening a little, as he finally had something to do, something to concentrate on, other than the horrible images that kept going through his mind over and over again, and the pain that accompanied them.

As they started to work, the mercenary quickly realised that just like when he had helped Fitz repair the Bus after it had been sabotaged by Agent 33, he didn’t really have any idea what he was doing, but he followed the scientist’s instructions closely and they were making extremely quick progress, especially considering the fact that he was a complete science illiterate, yet had to guess a good part of what Fitz was trying to tell him.

It took them a while to modify the appropriate parts to fit underneath the model car, and a few times Hunter completely lost track of what he was doing as his mind wandered back to the startled and pained expression on his father’s face right after he had been shot, and the blood running from the wound, but each time Fitz pulled him back to the present, and even though the scientist was obviously curious about what had happened on the mission that it had left even a professional like Hunter in such a distraught state, he never so much as grazed the subject again, knowing all too well what it was like to be pushed when you weren’t ready for something.

But in the end it was the mercenary himself, who brought the topic of his most recent mission back up a few hours later, just as they had finished their work and Fitz was double-checking every part of the model car and its brand new engine once more to make sure that they weren’t going to destroy Mack’s work on their test run.

“You know what Simmons and her team are working on at the moment, right?“ he asked, glancing over at the engineer, but then continued without waiting for him to reply. “That poison Hydra used last night when they killed all those soldiers. Now there is… there _was_ this former SHIELD scientist who apparently knew a lot about an older version of that stuff and Coulson sent me and Bobbi to talk to him and bring him back here, so he could help Simmons,” Hunter explained, actually finding it a lot easier than he had expected to talk about what had happened as long as he was pretending that it had just been an ordinary operation, and nothing that had affected him personally.

As he continued however, he couldn’t avoid becoming increasingly choked up, but as he really appreciated Fitz’s kindness towards him over the past few hours, he didn’t want him to hear the truth from anyone else, and so he forced himself to go on.

“But as it turned out, Hydra was already there. They... they shot him," and after a second’s hesitation, he added, “right in front of me,” finishing his explanation.

“That’s terrible,” Leo replied sympathetically, not even wondering why a trained soldier and mercenary like Hunter would get this upset over losing an asset. The scientist had just picked up the remote of the model car, which he had modified to now include controls for the flying mechanism as well, but at this point he hesitated, even though a part of him could still hardly wait to test his design, because he had begun to think of Hunter as a friend and it felt wrong to do something he enjoyed while the other man was obviously having a hard time just trying to hold himself together.

But only when the mercenary continued, his voice filled with grief, did Fitz finally understand why.

“That scientist, he… he was my dad.” The words hung in the air for a long moment, while Leo’s mouth opened slightly, but he just couldn’t think of anything to say. He had never been particularly good with expressing his emotions or addressing those of others, not even before what Ward had done to him, but now it seemed all but impossible to express the compassion and sympathy he was feeling towards Hunter with words, and so in the end he decided rather not to try at all, to not make this moment any more uncomfortable than it already was.

The remote still in one hand, he gave the mercenary a brief one-armed hug, that might have been a little too familiar for the relationship they had, but it was over before it could have become too awkward and before Hunter had the chance to think much about it, leaving him only with a slightly startled expression. Then Fitz suddenly held the controls of the miniature car out to him, shrugging helplessly, a well meaning expression on his face.

“I think you should have the first go. I’m not sure if I could have built this without your help, or at least not nearly in this time.”

“You sure? I mean, this was your project,” Hunter pointed out in return, knowing full well what Fitz was doing, that this was his, even though slightly strange way of offering his condolences.

“Actually, it was Mack’s, really, I just thought of a way to make it fly, and yes, I want you to do it. Just… don’t crash Lola, alright?”, he finished, actually managing to elicit a small smile from Hunter.

“Alright,” the mercenary agreed, taking the remote from the engineer, and after a few brief instructions, he managed to get the red model car to take off from the table and fly around the large room with a soft whirring noise, careful not to stir it into one of the walls by accident.

He kept going like this for a few more minutes, fully concentrating on the controls in his hands, and even managing to let the car do a few small tricks like flying underneath the table, when Fitz suddenly spoke again, obviously having used that time to find the right words to get across what he wanted to say.

“It’s always going to hurt, you know, but not like this, not like right now. And eventually you’ll be alright again, I promise.”

Hunter kept his eyes, which were once more shining with tears, on the miniature car, not wanting to face Fitz directly. The giant lump in his throat was making it hard for him to say anything in reply, so at first he simply nodded in agreement, before he finally managed to get at least a few barely audible words out.

“Yeah, I know.”

**To be continued…**


	13. Problematic Individuals

The young man making his way across the street away from the bus station pulled his baseball cap deeper into his face and shoved one hand into his pocket once again to feel the ticket he had just bought that would let him take the next bus to Mexico, which would leave in about half an hour, giving him just enough time to grab a bite to eat, even though he was still so nervous that he barely felt any hunger.

But he knew that he needed to keep his strength up and a large cup of coffee didn’t sound too bad either, as he hadn’t slept at all last night and didn’t know when he would find the opportunity to either, as he couldn’t afford to let his guard down. Not that he would be much safer in Mexico, not from _them_ , but it was just the first step to get as far away as possible and to lay low until he had figured out what to do next.

He glanced over his shoulder once more before entering the small rundown restaurant that was the only place that served food near the tiny bus station here in the middle of nowhere somewhere in south Arizona, his eyes going up briefly to the faded sign above the door that read “Maggie’s Diner”.

Even though it was still lunch time, there were only five other customers sitting in the booths or at the counter, the middle-aged waitress was busy at the moment refilling one of the patron’s coffee and through the service hatch he could see the cook in the kitchen preparing the next order. He made his way to the back of the room towards a seat near the service exit, where he sat down against the wall so he had a good look at the front door, his backpack next to him, ready to go at a moment’s notice.

As the waitress came over, he ordered a cheeseburger and a cup of coffee, then waited in silence, absentmindedly pulling off his cap and running a hand through his bleach blond hair, before cursing inwardly and covering it again, knowing that the colour was not exactly discreet and he would have to change it as soon as possible if he wanted to avoid drawing attention. But as he had spent his entire career so far as an analyst, without ever needing to go out into the field, it wasn’t really much of a surprise that he hadn’t really gotten used to being on the run just yet.

“Can I get you anything else?“ the waitress asked as she put his food and coffee down in front of him a few minutes later, but the young man shook his head and started eating as soon as she had turned away again, suddenly realising how famished he actually was. He hadn’t eaten all day and the burger actually tasted amazing, even though at this point he would have wolfed down pretty much anything without question.

About halfway through the burger, though, he stopped for a moment and put it back down on the plate, finally taking a moment to think and try to determine what his next steps would be.

A part of him was still angry at himself, because he knew of course that all of this was his own damn fault. He had had an amazing job, interesting, challenging and with great pay, that other people would have killed for, and he had thrown it away because even though he had done well for a while with simply not thinking about the consequences of his work too closely, at some point he had finally realised that as a matter of fact, he _wouldn’t_ kill for this job. But if you wanted to work for Hydra, that was pretty much a prerequisite.

He took a large gulp of his coffee and glanced around nervously once more, half expecting a Hydra assault team to storm the diner any second and either drag him outside or simply put half a dozen bullets through his chest without warning to make him pay for what he had done.

Not that it was worth much in his defence, but he had never really intended to become a traitor. Of course he was already one in the eyes of SHIELD, but he had always known who it was he had actually agreed to work for, and for the longest time he had simply gone with the program, not questioning the actions of his superiors.

As an analyst in one of Hydra’s main bases, it had been part of his job to supervise their communication channels and when he had first discovered that someone from military intelligence had managed to find and was now monitoring one of their communication frequencies, he had not really given it much thought, knowing that their encryption was far too strong to be broken by anyone. For some reason, which he couldn’t really explain anymore, he hadn’t even told any of his superiors about it, and had simply went on about his business as usual, until he had one day been confronted with details about an operation that had wreaked havoc with his carefully maintained balance of denial and blatant disinterest that had so far allowed him to do what he did for a living.

He had been tasked with coordinating the preparations for a mission that had been a lot more gruesome than Hydra’s usual exploits, or at least the ones he had been a part of, and that had, aside from the usual military targets, also involved the murder of several civilians. He would still be sitting safely behind his desk right now, if he had just handled the operation like any other, if he had looked the other way, as he had done so many times before, but for some reason, he hadn’t.

So instead of using any other of their communication frequencies and putting several layers of encryption over the data he was sending, as he usually did, without really thinking it through, he had picked the one monitored channel and had used only the bare minimum of encryption to not raise suspicion, a part of him hoping that whoever was listening in on their communication could break it in time to stop Hydra’s attack.

And they had.

The Hydra agents in the field had been taken down, the civilians had been saved, and no one had suspected him or even that there had been a leak inside the organisation. Or at least that was what he had thought.

After that he had used this same method a few more times, each time concealing the communication as part of his job, but secretly informing on Hydra’s next plans to make sure that no innocent people were harmed. He didn’t even know why he had suddenly cared so much, after he hadn’t been particularly bothered when they had fought their way out of SHIELD’s shadow, and agents had been killed left and right, but this slaughter of civilians was not something he could just ignore any longer.

Now he realised of course that that had been the point when he should have run, when he should have made a carefully thought-out plan to get himself to safety, but for some inexplicable reason he hadn’t. No, he had still thought that no one had discovered his betrayal yet and that maybe nobody would, and had only realised his foolish mistake yesterday when he had noticed that someone else had sent a bunch of information over the monitored frequency. And while that wouldn’t have been very troubling on its own, the fact that the sender’s ID showed that the message had been sent from his very own laptop had finally set off his warning bells, telling him that his actions had been discovered.

The information that had been sent had been the coordinates for some of Hydra’s facilities, bases and safe houses with absolutely no strategic value and while he didn’t have any idea why someone would want the military to find them, he had known right away that all of this could only mean that he had been found out and that he would be dead if he didn’t get away immediately.

And so he had started to run and hadn’t allowed himself to slow down yet.

Somehow he hadn’t even expected to get this far, hadn’t thought he would make it out of the office building, let alone the country, but here he was, just minutes away from getting on a bus to Mexico, hoping to find a way to get out of Hydra’s reach.

“Do you want some more coffee?“ the waitress suddenly interrupted his thoughts, and the young man nodded in reply, managing a weak smile.

“Yes, thank you,” he answered as he held his cup out to her, waiting for her to refill it.

“Anything else, hon?“ the blond woman asked in a friendly, almost motherly tone, but as he shook his head, she was already about to head back to the counter, when someone else's voice suddenly held her back.

"I would like a cup of coffee please, black, two sugar if you don't mind."

The young men at the table froze completely at the sound of the voice, his eyes widening in fear as he looked past the waitress and saw the two men in black suits standing behind her. One of the men, who was apparently the muscle of the operation, with broad shoulders and his hair in a short buzz cut, sat down in the booth on the other side of the aisle wordlessly, while his boss, a man in his early forties with short reddish-brown hair, gave the waitress a friendly nod, indicating to her to go and get his order, before he sat down opposite from the obviously scared young man.

Surprised by the sudden arrival of the two new customers, who seemed so out of place here in their plain, but expensive looking suits, the blond woman hesitated a second, fumbling with the small notepad she used for the orders, before she gathered herself again and looked over at the man, who had remained silent so far.

“And what about you, can I get you anything?”, she asked nicely, only for her smile to falter again as he looked up at her with an almost frighteningly stoic expression and shook his head slowly, before going back to staring straight ahead once more.

At this point, the red-headed man addressed her again, an apologetic smile on his lips.

“Please excuse my friend, he is not exactly what you would call very talkative. Abigail, isn’t it,” he asked, glancing at the nametag on her blouse, “why don’t you just get him a glass of water and the coffee for me, please. Thank you.” Obviously relieved that at least one of her strange new customers was acting like a normal person, Abigail nodded in agreement and headed back to the counter, while the three men remained silent for another moment, as the one who was obviously in charge of this meeting took a moment to study the menu on the table, while the young man sitting opposite from him was clearly too afraid to say or do anything.

"It’s a nice enough place I suppose,” the man in the black suit finally pointed out, “although a little small for my taste. But I guess someone in your situation takes what he can get, right?“ he asked, looking at his opponent with a small smirk on his lips.

"Please, Mr. Hawkins, sir-", the young man began, only to be cut short immediately.

"Do me a favour, will you, Mr. Andrews? Don't waste my time. I've actually come all this way down into this sad excuse for a city to give you something back that belongs to you," he announced as he placed an expensive looking laptop on the table in front of him. “But of course I realise that you have been in quite a hurry as you left, so it is not that surprising that you didn’t take it with you.”

Andrews was already about to reply something, but as the waitress came back at this moment, he remained silent for now.

"Here you go. One water,” she began, putting the glass down in front of the quiet man hesitantly, before turning towards the other table quickly, “and one coffee, black. Sugar's here on the table. Can I get you something to eat?"

"No, thank you, I won't stay long. My colleague here and I just have some brief business to discuss, then I'll be on my way again,” the man with the reddish-brown hair repliedcharmingly, looking up at the waitress with a bright smile. “If I had more time, I'd definitely try today's special, because that sounds delicious," he explained, pointing at the menu, "but I'm afraid we'll have to postpone that, Abigail. For now I'll just stick with the coffee."

"Alright, call me if you change your mind," the waitress replied with a smile in return before heading over to another customer, leaving the two men to themselves.

As they could talk privately again, the atmosphere in the air changed instantly, becoming tense, but less fearful than before as the young man who had already been sitting here seemed to be recovering from his initial shock.

"How did you find me?“ he asked with a sigh, taking off his baseball cap in the process, as there was obviously no point in trying to hide his identity any longer.

"Did you honestly believe we ever lost you?“ Hawkins asked in return, one eyebrow raised slightly as he picked up the sugar dispenser and calmly began to prepare his coffee. "I just wanted to see where you'd run, but I guess I'd been hoping for something a little more exciting than simply taking the next bus to Mexico,” he finished, stirring his hot beverage a few times, before taking a careful sip of it.

Swallowing hard, the blond young man in front of him picked up his cup of coffee now, too, but as he realised that his hand was shaking, he set it down again quickly and took a brief look around, trying to determine his chances should he decide to make a run for it.

"Alright,” he replied, nodding absentmindedly. “So what now? Is _he_ here to shoot me?“ Andrews asked, looking over at the man in the booth opposite from them. "Or are you going to drag me back to Hydra and make me comply again?"

Hawkins shook his head, his expression cheerful at first, but quickly becoming almost frighteningly serious as he kept talking.

"Oh no, don't worry, neither of that. I'm not Dr. Whitehall; in fact, I’m nothing like him. But you probably shouldn’t mistake that for a good thing, because you see, he has a very forgiving nature. He believes that pretty much everyone can be brought back into the fold, turned once again into a productive member of Hydra, but I have my own methods for dealing with certain problematic individuals.”

"‘ _Problematic Individuals’_?“ Andrews repeated sceptically, doing his best to stop the trembling of his voice.

"Yes, the enemies of Hydra,” Hawkins elaborated, his eyes glistening dangerously. “But I’m not just talking about the agents of SHIELD or the soldiers of the government who attack us, no, I think it is most essential to deal appropriately with the traitorous scum that thinks they can damage our organisation from within. People like you, Mr. Andrews,” he explained, causing the blond man opposite from him to draw a startled breath and shift in his seat as if he was about to bolt in fear.

But before he could do that, Hawkins suddenly reached across the table in a surprisingly swift motion and grabbed his arm just above the wrist, holding the analyst firmly in place, his eyes narrowing as he continued.

“But before you start to panic, let me be completely honest with you. Because to tell you the truth, I think you actually helped us a lot more than you caused us any harm. You may have sabotaged a few of our operations, but you also gave us the perfect tool to feed false information to those who still believe they can destroy us. And now they all know the price they'll have to pay if they try to take on Hydra, so thank you for that," Hawkins finished with a grateful smile as he let go of the younger man again, even though he was still almost visibly shaking with fear.

They both remained silent for a moment as Andrews took a few deep breaths to calm down and pull himself together again. Then he addressed the Hydra agent in front of him once more, knowing that his situation was probably still hopeless, even though he couldn’t stop feeling at least a little more optimistic than just a few seconds ago.

"Then what are you going to do to me, huh? I doubt that I 'helped you' enough that you'll actually let me go, right?“ he asked, not allowing himself to believe that he could really get out of this alive. Which was why his opponent’s next move was all the more confusing to him.

"For now, I'll let you enjoy your lunch," Hawkins replied as he stood up and reached into his pocket, pulling out a twenty dollar bill, he placed next to his barely touched coffee. "Your burger is on me, but you should be careful with the junkfood, that's really not healthy," he pointed out with an almost concerned expression, before making his way to the front door, winking to the waitress on his way out. The second Hydra agent followed him quietly, but as everyone’s attention was on his boss, nobody noticed the small device he had left behind on his table.

As Hawkins pushed the entrance door open, he stopped briefly as he noticed the small sign hanging against the glass, showing that the diner was open, and turned it around so that it now read ‘closed’ to everyone looking at it from the outside. Then he finally stepped out into the fresh air again, the taller Hydra agent following him closely.

“Go ahead,” Hawkins ordered calmly as they started to walk away from the diner, prompting his subordinate to silently pull out a pen-shaped device and press a button on it, causing the device back inside on the table to come to life, while he reached into an inside pocket of his jacket and retrieved a box of cigarettes a and a book of matches from it.

He offered one to the quiet agent next to him, who shook his head wordlessly, prompting Hawkins to simply shrug and light a cigarette for himself, before putting the box and the matches away again.

“You’re right, I know it’s a bad habit, but as far as I’m concerned, I think everyone should be entitled to at least one vice in their life. Otherwise, what’s the whole point?” He took a few puffs of his cigarette, before finally stopping and turning back towards the diner, looking at it from the distance.

“You never know when it’s over, so you might as well enjoy your life before you drop dead over lunch,” he pointed out with a smirk, his eyes fixated on the body of the blond woman lying on the floor of the diner, just a few feet away from the door, convulsing in pain.

He cocked his head slightly as he watched her with fascination, inhaling the smoke of his cigarette deeply, not a single trace of compassion darkening his features. They remained in place for a few more minutes, until the woman had stopped moving completely, then Agent Hawkins dropped the butt to the ground and stepped on it absentmindedly.

“Goodbye, Abigail,” he announced cheerfully, indicating a small bow in the direction of the diner, before heading off towards where they had parked their car earlier. “I suppose I should have tipped her better for leaving such a mess, but then again, I guess that would have been a waste,” he finished with a shrug and a small chuckle.

As they approached the expensive black car they had come here in, that looked just as out of place in this small town as the two agents themselves, their driver came out to greet them, opening the door for Hawkins.

“Any news from our other operations yet?”, he asked, receiving a nod in return.

“Yes, I just heard back from our men in England. The scientist is down, but the SHIELD team got away. And apparently they have the data.”

Hawkins’ expression darkened visibly at this, and he was already making plans as he was getting into the back of the car.

“Whose fault was that?”, he asked, doing his best not to overreact.

“The sniper did a good job, but the ground team was too slow. They didn’t manage to get to the two SHIELD agents in time.” Hawkins nodded briefly, before turning towards the quiet agent, who had taken the seat beside him in the back of the car, his expression grim, but decisive.

“Take care of that for me, will you? And then I want to know everything about those agents, who they are, where their base is and just how many of them I have to kill to get my intel back.”

**To be continued…**


	14. A Good Man

“Are you getting all of this?“ Agent May’s voice came over the comm, while Director Coulson and the agents Skye, Morse and Simmons were standing in the former’s office, watching the video feed playing on the large screen on the wall that was showing images from the small camera attached to the full hazmat suit May was wearing at the moment.

“Yes, the connection is good and the image is clear. Just don’t move too fast,” Coulson replied as he kept his eyes on the video.

The specialist had taken the Bus with a small team to south Arizona, after General Talbot had informed them of another attack by Hydra involving the same poison as before, and as Bobbi hadn’t been back from her and Hunter’s mission in England yet, and Skye and Jemma had been busy working their own assignments, May was running point on this operation by herself without anyone from Coulson’s inner circle accompanying her.

General Talbot was actually on site himself this time and the members of SHIELD’s science department, who had gone with May were already working together with the military staff to secure the scene and bag any evidence, while the man in charge had just put on a hazmat suit himself and was next to the specialist now as they made their way into the small restaurant that Hydra had attacked. A sign with the slightly faded words “Maggie’s Diner” came into view on the screen for a second as May took a look around outside, before Talbot pushed the glass front door open, leading the way into the building.

Even from the outside, they had been able to spot the body of a blond middle-aged woman, who, going by her outfit, had been the waitress of the diner, lying on the floor next to the door, and as they now made their way past her, Talbot looked down at her briefly, his voice neutral, but not entirely concealing his regret and anger.

“Apparently she had been trying to escape when the poison hit, but obviously without much success. One of the locals discovered the scene and when the sheriff got here, her body was blocking the door. Might have actually saved his life, because instead of forcing his way in, he called the feds once he figured out that this might have been a biological or chemical attack. But of course we took the case from them the second I heard about the M.O. I’m sure this was Hydra again and I want to catch the bastards who did this myself," Talbot finished his explanation.

"A diner in the middle of nowhere; honestly, this seems a little too random for a Hydra attack. What proof does he have that it was them?“ Coulson now asked over the comm, his voice still slightly sceptical. "Was there any video footage left behind again?" May repeated the questions for the general, causing him to shake his head in response.

"No, nothing like that. But aside from the fact that my guys already told me we're dealing with the same stuff like last night again, we also know who the main target was. And going by our files, he used to be one of yours."

The video feed showed them making their way into the back of the diner now, past the counter, where two dead patrons were lying next to their bar stools, their faces still distorted in pain, and towards the body of a young man with bright blond hair lying on the foor of the aisle between two booths. Just like the rest of the victims, he looked like he had been in agony during his death as well, and going by the tight grip he still had on the strap of his backpack, and his position on the ground, that suggested he had been moving forward when he had been hit by the poison, he, too, had been trying to get away in vain.

But before Talbot focused on the dead body, he pointed at a small black box, a few inches high and about the size of a postcard, standing on the table to their left next to an untouched glass of water.

"That’s the device that emitted the poison. We believe that whoever sat at this table placed it here, left, and then triggered it remotely from the outside. The positioning alone makes it pretty obvious that this guy here was the intended target,” Talbot noted, looking down at the blond man on the floor, “but of course we also ran background checks on all the other victims, just to be sure. But his was the only one that came back with anything interesting.

His name was Ryan Andrews, former SHIELD agent. He managed to avoid capture by my men after the Triskelion went down, when Hydra was forced into the open, and even though he never appeared on our radar again until today, we're pretty sure he was actually working for them. But going by the mess they made killing him, I'd say he really must have pissed off someone higher up the food chain," the general theorised, obviously not feeling much sympathy for the victim this time, considering his employer.

"I don't know anything about his connection to Hydra, but he definitely was working for SHIELD. I actually recognise him," May suddenly announced, surprising both Talbot and the members of her team listening over the radio.

"He was an analyst in the building while I was in administration. We never spoke and I didn't even know his name, but that hair is very hard to miss," the agent admitted, one eyebrow raised slightly.

“Yeah, and you’d think dyeing that eyesore would have been the first point on his list as he went on the run, but I guess he decided to wait until he was in Mexico. And if he really was just an analyst, he probably barely had a clue what he was doing anyway, so I suppose it’s almost impressive that he even got this far,” Talbot pointed out, scrutinising the dead young man in front of him for a moment.

Back in Coulson’s office, Bobbi was standing with her arms crossed, her eyes narrowed slightly as she watched the video feed thoughtfully.

"Well, if Andrews really was with Hydra, he wasn't one of Whitehall’s people, because I've never seen him before and I've had a look at the personnel files of everyone who worked in those offices.

“So maybe we really are dealing with a new player here,” Coulson agreed, unconsciously mimicking Bobbi’s stance as he continued to look up at the screen in silence.

Agent May now let her eyes wander around the scene once more, until she paused at the table to her right, where the dead analyst had most likely been sitting, going by the half-eaten cheeseburger still lying on a plate there. But it wasn’t the food that had attracted her attention, but the two cups of coffee standing on each side of the table.

“Do you have any idea yet who he was talking to?“ she asked Talbot, looking up at the general questioningly.

“You mean the second coffee?”, he enquired, following the agent’s line of sight and prompting her to nod in agreement.

“We have prints, but no match yet in any of our databases. You’ll get a copy, of course, maybe your people will be able to find something we missed.”

In Coulson’s office, Agent Simmons now suddenly spoke up, after having been completely silent so far, almost startling the rest of her team.

“Fingerprints are a good start, but I’d also like to have Agent Andrews. His body, I mean,” she explained, slightly flustered by how this had come out. “For testing and to perform a full autopsy myself. Working with samples and now with the data Bobbi and Hunter brought back is great, but if I really want to understand how this poison works, I need to see its effects on a human body firsthand.”

General Talbot thought about that request for a moment, after May had conveyed it to him, and in the end he nodded his head in agreement.

“Alright. The way Hydra is going at this, there really isn’t any shortage of dead bodies this time, and considering that he was a traitor to SHIELD first, I guess it fits if you get to deal with his remains.” He took another long look around the diner at this point, sighing as the full extent of the attack became apparent.

“You know, I’ve fought enough battles in my life to know that sometimes in war, things get ugly. And I’ve definitely dealt with my fair share of bad guys, but Hydra, they’re really something else. Seven people collateral damage just to kill one man, and as far as we know, his killer was sitting at the table right across from him. He could have shot him, waited for him to leave or use the restroom to avoid witnesses, but no, he wanted to make a point. He wanted to make his death slow and painful and it didn’t matter that he was condemning seven innocent people to that same fate as well.” The General shook his head at this point, unable to understand the reasoning behind such a level of cruelty.

“Hydra was never known for being merciful, not to civilians or even towards their own people,” May replied, looking back down at the dead body next to them. “Did Andrews have anything on him that could tell us why he was killed? Hydra might be ruthless, but even they don’t kill their own agents for absolutely no reason.”

“We’re hoping he did, yes,” Talbot replied cryptically as he signalled a member of his team to come over to them. “The only things he had on his person were a ticket for the next bus across the border and a few clothes and some money in his backpack, but the most interesting thing was his laptop we found sitting right here next to his plate on the table,” he elaborated as a soldier handed him the device in question, “and we’re hoping that an analysis of the data on it will give us a clue as to who exactly we're dealing with and why they committed this massacre,” he explained optimistically.

May was already about to reply something to that as Skye’s voice over the comm suddenly interrupted her, drawing her attention away from the general.

“Yeah, only that there’s no way that Andrews brought that laptop with him,” she pointed out decisively. “I don’t know if that really is his laptop or not, but it was definitely left there by someone else on purpose. My guess would be on the person he talked to before his death.”

Her brow furrowed in surprise, May indicated to the general to wait a second as she turned away from him for a moment, focusing on the voice over the radio.

“What makes you so sure that Andrews didn’t have the laptop with him? He was an analyst, so it’d make sense that he would take it with him as he went on the run.”

The rest of the team in Coulson’s office was obviously sharing the specialist’s scepticism as they all looked at the hacker curiously, waiting for her to explain her theory.

“Well, for one, it’s too big to fit into his backpack, isn’t it, and unless there’s a laptop bag there somewhere that we haven’t seen yet, how would he have transported it? That’s one of the most expensive laptops you can buy, so if he had the time to get some clothes while he was running for his life, it’s ridiculous to think that Andrews would have travelled anywhere just holding that thing under his arm or something. And if whatever is on that laptop is really so important, that he would take it with him as he was trying to escape his bosses at Hydra, why would he choose to leave it now, but still take the backpack? No, I think his murderer left this here for us to find, probably also to make a point.”

The young agent’s train of thought from here was pretty obvious, but she didn’t even have to say it, as Coulson continued in her stead, looking at her impressed.

“May, I want you to bring that laptop back here, so Skye can take a look at it. I know Talbot might not want to go for that, but tell him that he’ll obviously get access to everything we find, plus the intel Skye already managed to dig up, of course.”

Even though they couldn’t see the specialist’s face at the moment, her voice betrayed clearly how sceptical she was about this order as she finally replied.

“Alright, I’ll try to find a way to convince him. I’ll get back to you if I should find out anything else interesting.” After that, Agent May switched off the camera and deactivated her radio, causing the screen in Coulson’s office to go dark and the communication between her and the team to break off. Simmons used this opportunity to excuse herself as well, to return to the lab with the data Bobbi and Hunter had brought back from their mission, promising to keep everyone in the loop concerning her progress, before leaving the blond agent, Skye and Coulson alone in the office.

Once the scientist was gone, Bobbi turned towards Skye next, her interest piqued by what Coulson had just offered General Talbot.

“We have to take out whoever is responsible for this and for what happened in England before they kill again, so please tell me you actually found a new lead while Hunter and I were gone,” she almost pleaded, looking at Skye hopefully.

Ever since she had joined Coulson’s team, she and the young hacker hadn’t really had the opportunity to work together more closely or even to talk, really, but of course they were both professional enough and knew enough about each other’s abilities and exploits to quickly establish a mutual respect among them, causing the younger agent to reply quickly, knowing how personal this mission must have become for Bobbi after what had happened during the assignment she had just returned from.

"Well, we initially thought that this poison was new, right, because we've never encountered it before, but Coulson said you guys found out that it's been almost a decade since it was developed, and if it's really been in Hydra's possession for that long, I couldn’t believe they just kept it lying around on a shelf somewhere,” the hacker explained, looking up at the blond agent.

“But as there obviously weren’t any records of anyone having been killed with this poison until last night, I started a wide search for any deaths that had been ruled a heart failure instead, which is the acute cause of death of the poison, but that could have actually been murders committed by Hydra. As this obviously is a very wide search parameter, I started with anyone who had even the remotest connection to SHIELD, and so far, I already found two cases that look like they fit the bill.

The first one was Agent Gary Stapleton, a scientist stationed at the Sandbox, who quit SHIELD pretty unexpectedly, only to die apparently of a heart attack not two weeks later. There was no record of him having any kind of heart condition, and he was only thirty-nine, but his death was still ruled natural with surprisingly little suspicion by anyone. And the second possible victim was a member of SHIELD's special weapon's division, Agent Welker, who requested to be transferred, but died only three days after he had started working at his new post." This second part actually got Bobbi’s attention, as it fit perfectly to what she and her ex-husband had found out just a few hours earlier.

“SHIELD's special weapons division, that’s who Hunter’s father was working for when he created the poison,” she pointed out in surprise, turning to face Director Coulson now. “Maybe this is nothing more than a coincidence, but knowing the division’s role in the making of that poison, we have to look into this more closely. Did you manage to find anything yet on the man who recruited Dr. Hunter in the first place, Agent Hawkins?“ she asked, clearly hoping for a breakthrough in this case.

But no matter how much Coulson would have liked to be able to give her one, he shook his head in response, his frustration showing.

“To be honest, we barely found anything on him. His name does come up in a few files from that time, but there don’t seem to exist any personal records on him or even so much as a picture to confirm his identity. We know that the special weapons division had one of the highest numbers of Hydra sleepers within SHIELD, and that it was one of the first sections to go dark during the uprising, and going by how much trouble somebody must have gone through to wipe Agent Hawkins from SHIELD’s records so completely, we’re assuming that he has to be a very high-ranking member of Hydra and maybe even a part of the cell that is responsible for the recent attacks. At least his is the only name we can connect directly to the project so far, aside from Robert’s, of course,” Coulson conceded, sighing briefly, as he was still visibly upset about both his friend’s death and the role he had played in creating this horrible poison Hydra was now using to kill its enemies.

Bobbi knew all too well how he was feeling, but at the moment she was still trying not to think too much about everything that had happened and what she had found out over the last few hours, and to concentrate instead on finding whoever was responsible for all of this. And as finding a pattern in Hydra’s previous attacks was a good enough start, she tried to make sense of what Skye had managed to find out so far.

"Alright, so Agent Stapleton and Agent Welker were from the Sandbox and special weapons respectively, both divisions of SHIELD where we know Hydra had a lot of agents. Do you think they saw something they shouldn't have or maybe even found out the truth about Hydra and then were killed so they couldn't talk?“ she asked, addressing the whole group as she was trying out the idea.

"It's a theory, yes,” Coulson agreed, even though he was obviously not convinced, “but, going by the impressive careers both of them had made until that point, and their connections to people we know were Hydra, another is that they were actually Hydra themselves, but for whatever reason, they decided to quit."

"Only that Hydra is not something you retire from that easily," Bobbi continued his line of thought, nodding slowly, understanding dawning on her features as she repeated what Hunter had said to his father only a few hours ago as they had both assumed the former agent had been a loyal follower of the organisation.

"Right,” Skye replied to her this time. “Maybe those guys actually grew a conscience or maybe they just didn't get along with the management, we obviously don’t know, but we think that for whatever reason, both agents wanted to get out of Hydra, but were killed before they really had the chance to enjoy their new freedom."

“And I’m sure they didn’t even see it coming,” Bobbi replied sadly, her mind obviously still caught up in what had happened to her ex-father-in-law, despite her best efforts to push the memory away for the moment.

“It was bad, wasn’t it?” Skye now suddenly asked, her voice gentle, almost tentative, as she wasn’t sure how much she could pry into what had happened, given the fact that she and Bobbi weren’t exactly close, but still wanting to know the truth, as she considered at least Hunter a friend and truly cared for him and needed to know if he was alright. “What happened in England, I mean. With Hunter’s dad,” she elaborated, but a part of her was almost afraid to hear the answer.

“Yeah,” Bobbi replied after a brief moment of hesitation, obviously having decided to trust Skye enough to tell her what her ex and she had been through today, “it was.” She had already told Coulson earlier about the events of the mission, from Robert Hunter’s initial refusal to come back to SHIELD, his confession about his connection to Hydra and his role in designing a new dangerous poison based on the one that had killed his wife and finally to his assassination and the assault team that had stormed the house, forcing her and her ex-husband to flee the scene in a hurry. But so far, she hadn’t said much about the details of the scientist’s death, or the effect it had had on his son.

“And the truth is, I’m not even sure how Hunter is holding up. I’d like to say he’s going to be fine, but honestly, I don’t know. Those few sentences he said to you right after we had landed,” she began to explain, looking at Coulson now, “that was more than he had said on the entire flight back.” Bobbi fell silent for another second, shaking her head and grimacing slightly.

“I wasn’t there when it happened. I was waiting downstairs in the living room while Dr. Hunter went to get his research data for us, but Lance went after him, because he thought he could convince him to come with us after all if he just talked to him one more time. I don’t know what happened between them before the shot, they were probably arguing again, I just know that when I got into the room… it was bad. Hunter, he… I’m not even sure he really knew what was happening anymore.” The agent sighed at the memory of the mercenary’s desolate state when she had found him after Hydra's attack, but then she actually managed a half-smile as she continued, shaking her head once more.

“You know, I almost thought Hunter was exaggerating about his bad relationship with his father before we got to his old house, but the truth is, he wasn’t. We weren’t there very long, only for about an hour, but it was obvious pretty much within seconds that to call things between them ‘difficult’ would probably have been the understatement of the year.

I mean, you were there when I came back from my undercover stint with Hydra,” she said, aiming her words at the director again, “and Hunter and I met again for the first time in almost a year. _That_ was warm and cuddly compared to him meeting his dad again. Honestly, I always thought Hunter and I fight a lot, but you should have seen him trying to spend just five minutes in a room with his father without shouting, it was practically impossible.” Her expression had brightened a little at the thought that her ex-husband obviously had the tendency to argue with everyone who was close to him, and that it clearly wasn’t her fault that they never seemed to get along easily, but the small smile on her lips vanished again quickly as she continued, a sad look in her eyes.

“But Dr. Hunter… Robert…, I believe he was a good man, despite of what he did and even though he clearly wasn't always a very good father, and I think Lance, he… he actually realised that, too. I’m not sure, but I think now that they were starting to be more honest with each other, there was actually a pretty good chance that they were going to fix things between them. Until Hydra killed Robert right in front of his son, of course,” the agent finished, the expression on her face both sad and angry, her hand clenching into a fist unconsciously as she realised just how much her mind was still reeling after what had happened and that she wasn’t even able to guess how Hunter had to be feeling right now.

**To be continued…**


	15. The Next Step

Hunter and Fitz had left the former testing range deep inside the Playground where they had spent the last few hours, basically hiding from the world, and were now making their way back towards the base’s science labs, only that this time the mercenary had offered to carry the equipment, which was now weighing him down heavily, while the engineer was just holding the red miniature car they had been working on, a proud grin on his lips as he glanced down at it repeatedly.

They both knew of course that the team was dealing with a lot more important issues at the moment and that they had essentially been wasting their time with this project, but in their own way, both of them had needed this, had needed to focus on something that didn’t involve a dangerous Hydra threat or countless lives hanging in the balance, well aware that they wouldn’t exactly have been of much use to the others right now anyway.

Agent Simmons was right in her element at the moment, obviously, with her degree in biochemistry, leading the science division, but there wasn’t really much application for Fitz’s engineering skills while everyone was dealing with trying to fight a dangerous poison, and as the two formerly inseperable scientists still hadn’t figured out a way to work together again, Leo had known that he would have only been standing in the way if he had stayed in the lab earlier. And while he had wanted to work on the model car Mack had built for Coulson simply for the fun of it, too, of course, it had also been supposed to serve as an exercise for his motor skills, and his ability to focus on more delicate work again.

Even if he hadn't said it out loud, a part of him actually suspected, that if it hadn’t been for Hunter’s help, he might have accidentally destroyed mini-Lola, maybe even beyond repair, and he was still glad that he had stumbled onto the mercenary, despite of the horrible circumstances that had let to him being down there in the engineer’s makeshift workshop in the first place.

"Where do you want this stuff?“ Hunter now suddenly asked, glancing around the lab from behind the large pile of equipment he was still carrying, eager to get rid of it, a part of him already regretting his earlier casual offer to take care of the scientist’s things for him.

"Just put it on the table there," Fitz instructed absentmindedly, pointing at a lab desk in the corner where he now put down the model car, too, his attention already elsewhere. Hunter sighed exaggeratedly as he put the equipment down, as if he had actually had to struggle with the weight, but stopped as soon as he realised that the Scottish young man wasn’t paying him any attention and was instead focused on something that was happening at the other side of the lab.

He followed his line of sight and quickly noted that Agent Simmons was standing there, surrounded by a large part of her science team, Director Coulson and Bobbi positioned to the side as they all watched a body in a black body bag being rolled into the room on a gurney.

“Looks like there’s more dead people,” Hunter remarked bitterly, before putting one hand on Fitz’s shoulder for a brief moment, nodding his head in the direction of the others. “Come on, I think we’ve both been hiding from the real world for long enough now.”

As Hunter made his way towards Bobbi, Simmons and Coulson, a small part of him actually urged him to just turn around and head back, telling him that he wasn’t ready yet to face any more death, that he was still barely holding it together after his earlier complete shut-down, but instead of giving into that impulse, he kept moving forward, reminding himself than none of this was going to go away, just because he couldn’t handle it.

Hydra was still out there, killing people with the poison his own father had created, and as the former agent would now never have the chance to atone for the damage he had caused, the mercenary knew that he at least had to make sure that this wasn’t going to be the legacy that remained of Robert Hunter. He needed to help the team to find and destroy every last drop of that poison, no matter what, and as it was almost inevitable that they would come across the person responsible for his father’s death on the way, the prospect of getting his revenge was doing the rest to convince Hunter that he was not backing out of this mission again. He knew of course that he wasn’t back at a hundred percent yet, but there was no reason that Coulson or any of the others had to know about that. Not if he could help it.

As he and Fitz were basically coming up from behind the group of scientists, plus Coulson and Bobbi, now, nobody noticed them at first as Hunter, with the engineer following closely behind, joined them, taking a look at what was happening.

The body bag had just been lifted onto a table in the centre of the group, and was now being opened to reveal the corpse of a blond young man, the fact that he was missing any obvious injuries quickly leading Hunter to suspect that he was a victim of the poison as well, making him one more death Hydra would have to pay for.

“We’ll begin with a full autopsy shortly, to determine the exact effects of the poison and to see if everything corresponds to the research data gathered by Hunter’s father,” Simmons started to explain, both her and the rest of the group still completely unaware that the mercenary was listening to every word she said. “He never tested his design on human subjects, thankfully, but his work on various mammals including monkeys and apes was very insightful, already giving me a good idea how the substance works.” At this point Fitz was looking up at Hunter with an appalled expression, clearly horrified by the idea that his father had tested his creation on innocent monkeys, but as the mercenary was completely focused on what was happening in front of them, he didn’t notice.

“And what’s the next step?“ Bobbi now asked, her arms crossed in front of her chest as she looked at Simmons, every now and then glancing down at the dead body between them, as if it was reminding her of the severity of the situation. “Robert spent years searching for a way to cure his wife’s deteriorating condition, unsuccessfully, but what we need is something to counter the poison immediately, at best something that could make a person immune against it, or at least an antidote that can be administered directly.”

“Yes,” Simmons agreed, nodding her head, “you’re right. I’m afraid that the substance is way too aggressive for any kind of vaccine to work, but we’ve already started working on an antidote and I’m hoping that we’ll be able to make it work. And even though it may be hard to believe, Hydra’s cruelty is actually good for us in this case, as it’s working in our favour on this,” the scientist pointed out, but before she had the opportunity to explain her statement, a voice in a heavy English accent suddenly interrupted her, causing the entire group, Coulson and Bobbi included, to turn around in surprise.

“And how exactly is that?” Hunter asked, his voice filled with disbelieve and even a trace of anger at the mere idea that anything about Hydra’s cruel and horrible way of killing its enemies could be considered ‘good’.

“Hunter!“ the scientist replied in shock, taken completely off guard by the mercenary’s presence. “I didn’t know you were…” she began, only to trail off again immediately. “I didn’t mean…”, but this attempt at explaining herself didn’t go anywhere, either, until she finally settled for a somewhat defeated, “I’m so sorry,” leaving it unclear if she was just apologising for her words, or offering Hunter her condolences for his loss.

Bobbi’s eyes were fixated on her ex-husband from the second she had become aware of him, but even though she wanted nothing more than to cross the distance between them and make sure that he was alright, she pulled herself together and stayed where she was, not even saying a word to him, knowing that any display of emotion right now would be unprofessional on her part and also that the last thing Hunter probably needed right now, was to be questioned about his feelings and his well-being in front of half the base.

But of course that didn’t mean that she wasn’t worried sick about him. After her debriefing with Coulson earlier, she had searched everywhere for the mercenary, but his bunk had been empty, except for a pile of bloody clothes lying on the floor, barely anyone had seen him, and even those who had, still hadn’t had any idea where he had gone.

After the way Hunter had been on the flight back from England, barely responsive, shutting himself off from everything and everyone around him, Bobbi had hated being forced to leave him on his own, and even though he clearly seemed better now, it barely managed to calm her worries.

She had seen her ex in combat countless times before, knew of course about his recommendations from his time in the SAS, and she was sure that until today he had not lost control in a fight even once, no matter how badly a mission had went, or how many casualties his side had taken. He had always been the one who remained focused, despite any circumstances, which had made his complete and utter breakdown she had witnessed earlier all the more frightening. And deep down Bobbi knew that no matter how calm and collected Hunter appeared right now, that wasn’t something he could possibly come back from this quickly.

“No, it’s alright,” the mercenary now declared angrily, replying to Simmons’ apology. “I was just wondering how anything about _this_ ,” he pointed at the dead young man on the table, “is supposed to be ‘ _good’_? Or what about those thirty-six soldiers Hydra killed just last night and whose deaths they were so considerate to catch on tape so we could all watch them die slowly and painfully?”

“Hunter!“ Coulson suddenly spoke up, warning the mercenary that he wasn’t going to tolerate his behaviour no matter what he had went through. Hunter wasn’t willing to listen to him, though, and simply ignored the strict tone of his voice, continuing with his rant.

“No, really, I just want to understand how it can be ‘good’ for us that these people had to suffer the way they did. That this poison was created with the intention to cause as much pain as possible instead of just killing its victims quickly.” Hunter was obviously furious by now, his voice having become increasingly louder during his outburst, but while she had at first been surprised and even intimidated by him, Simmons was now looking at the mercenary completely composed, even signalling Coulson that she could handle the situation.

“Because in that case, everyone who gets in contact with the poison would be dead immediately, leaving us no chance to do anything to help them. There are substances in this world, like the venom of certain spiders or frogs, that can kill a man before he even realises what happened. If Hydra had turned something like that into an airborne weapon, there would be very little we could do against it. But as this poison we’re dealing with takes a few minutes to kill the victim, there would be enough time to administer an antidote.” She fell silent for a few seconds, just looking at the man in front of her with compassionate eyes, before she finally continued, her voice considerably gentler this time.

“Hunter, of course nothing about this poison is ‘good’, it is a horrible weapon, but now that I know the history behind it, I am absolutely certain that its mere existence must have been one of your father’s biggest regrets.” The scientist and the mercenary just looked at each other for another moment, until the latter nodded slowly, his voice calm once more, but also filled with sadness, as he replied.

“Yes, I’m sure it was,” he agreed, silently grateful to Simmons that while she had already revealed his father’s involvement in all of this to the agents working for her earlier, she wasn’t condemning the scientist for his connection to Hydra, and showed understanding for his position instead. He knew of course, that the fact his own father had been responsible for creating one of the most horrible poisons they had ever come across, would have gotten out into the open sooner or later, and while he somehow would have preferred it to be later, as he still had to come to terms with it himself, it was at least a relief to find that there were no judging looks being shot in his direction from anyone else.

 

* * *

 

“Hunter, wait!”, Bobbi’s voice held him back just as the mercenary was making his way out of the lab. He had still wanted to talk to Simmons some more, to hear if his father’s research was really as helpful as the former agent had assured him, and that him spending his last words on it had been worth it, but as the scientist had begun with the autopsy on Hydra’s latest victim, he had decided to postpone that talk for the moment. But obviously, there was one talk he couldn’t postpone any longer, as his ex-wife had now caught up with him, even though he hadn’t slowed down his steps.

“Where have you been earlier?“ the blond agent now asked, scrutinising him for a moment. “I was worried about you. I wanted to go with you after we had landed, but Coulson kind of dragged me off, and when we were finished with the debriefing, I couldn’t find you anywhere. Are you alright?“ she finally asked with a sceptical expression on her face, laying one hand on Hunter’s arm, forcing him to stop walking.

The mercenary looked at Bobbi hesitantly for a brief second, a part of him already about to open up to her, but then his expression hardened almost unnoticeably, as he was afraid that if he allowed himself to deal with even some of the pain he was still feeling, he wouldn’t be able to keep it together any longer at all, and then there would be no way that Coulson would allow him to continue being a part of the current operation. After the stunt he had pulled, back when Izzy and Idaho had been killed, he still wasn’t sure if there even was a chance for him to go after Hydra himself, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to blow it now by turning into an emotional wreck.

“If you mean if I’m alright with my father being shot literally five feet in front of me, then the answer is ‘no’,” he replied in an almost harsh tone, clearly startling his ex, but not giving her the chance to reply anything right away as he quickly continued. “But I’m not going to cry about it anymore, that’s for sure. I guess I was kind of in shock at first, but after I had some time to think, I realised that me and my dad, we were never close, we haven’t talked in years, and while I still want to get the bastard who did this, of course, there’s no use in acting like it’s the end of the world, either. I just hope that my father was right about his research data and that Simmons can find an antidote against the poison he made even without his help, otherwise we’ll be right back where we started.”

In a way, Hunter hated himself for these words, but right now, denying how deeply he had been and was still being affected by what had happened, was the only way he knew how to cope with it, if he didn’t want to find himself hiding in Fitz’s secret workshop again, and so he kept his expression in check, hoping that his ex would believe his changed attitude.

There was a reason, however, why Bobbi had always been one of SHIELD’s best agents, and it wasn’t just her impeccable fighting skills.

“Hunter, I don’t know what’s wrong with you,” she began in a resolute tone, emphasising her words by tapping her finger against the mercenary’s chest, “but _this_ , this right here, is why no matter who you work for, you’re always going to be a soldier at heart, and not a spy. I have no idea why you would do this right now, but you’re lying. You’re lying to me, maybe you’re even lying to yourself, but either way, I can promise you that this bullshit is going to blow up in your face very _very_ soon!”

“I think I’ll manage, thanks,” Hunter replied casually, knowing that he was an asshole for blowing Bobbi off like this after everything she had done for him today. Before he could say anything else to her, though, or had the chance to rethink his tactic, Coulson suddenly approached them, his attention focused on the mercenary.

“Hunter, I understand that you needed some time after what happened to your father, and Bobbi already debriefed me on most of the details of the operation, but if you’re feeling up to it, I’d like to get your point of view as well,” he admitted, actually giving the younger man the option to back out, if he didn’t think he could handle talking about the events of the mission. However, as this was exactly what Hunter had been waiting for, the opportunity to show the director that he was able to act professionally, even under these terrible circumstances, he quickly nodded in agreement.

“Of course, it’s not a problem. I’ll tell you what I know,” he assured Coulson, to the man’s obvious relief.

“Good. Meet me in my office in five,” he instructed, before heading off down the corridor, leaving Hunter and Bobbi alone once more. While the blond agent had so far been trying to get through to her ex, she backed away from him now, lifting her hands slightly as if she was signalling that she was giving up.

“Alright, if everything that happened is ‘not a problem’ to you, then I’m obviously wasting my time here trying to help you. If you change your mind, you know where to find me, but I’m done chasing you down. I just hope you’ll realise what an idiot you’re being before it’s too late,” she finished, shaking her head at him uncomprehendingly, before turning around and storming off in the opposite direction from Coulson.

Hunter sighed as he looked after her, feeling like shit for letting her go like this, knowing just how deep he was in her dept and that even without her saving his life multiple times today, Bobbi didn’t deserve him treating her like this. But then he pushed that guilt and sadness from his mind, just like he had done with the pain about his father’s death, forcing himself to focus on the mission ahead, to stop Hydra from killing again and to eliminate the person responsible for taking the only family he had left away from him.

**To be continued…**


	16. Fixing A Mistake

As Hunter stood in front of the door to Coulson’s office, he hesitated for a moment and took a deep breath, trying to prepare himself for his debriefing with the director, which he knew he had avoided more than long enough by now.

Right after his and Bobbi’s return to the base, when he had handed Coulson the flash drive his father had been keeping hidden, it had taken pretty much all of his resolve to appear as composed as he had and not to show right away what a mess he had really still been at the time. Not that he didn’t still feel like one now, but in a way it had become a lot easier to focus again, and as long as he had something to do, something to keep his mind busy, he was somehow even able to push most of the pain away and to do what he had done when he had first told Fitz about the mission, to pretend like none of this had hit him personally.

Of course Hunter fully realised that this approach wasn’t going to work forever, but for now he wasn’t planning much further ahead than this meeting, which he was sure was going to determine the role he would be allowed to play in the hunt for Hydra and the people not just responsible for the organisation’s latest attacks, but also for his father’s death. And he knew that if he didn’t want to end up being grounded for the remainder of this operation, he didn’t just have to hide his almost crippling emotional pain, but he also couldn’t afford to lose his temper again like he had done the last time he had been inside Coulson’s office, only a few hours ago.

Looking back at that argument now, it seemed to have been ages ago, before he had found out the truth about his mother’s death or, even worse, the horrible things his father had done in an effort to save her. Back then, his worst memory in regard to Robert Hunter had been a tie between their last angry fight and one of the many times as a child when he had foolishly trusted the man’s promise that he and his mother would be there for him, only to be disappointed yet again, now it was the image of his father lying on the ground in front of him, dying, with him being unable to do anything but watch helplessly.

Closing his eyes tightly for a second, the mercenary took another deep breath, shuddering slightly, willing himself once more to focus less on his personal involvement in all of this, and just on the facts instead, like he had done while talking to Fitz earlier. It wasn’t exactly easy, but after a few moments he had himself under control again, subduing the memories far enough that he could still easily recall what had happened, but without allowing them to overwhelm him any longer.

 _“You're lying to me, maybe you're even lying to yourself, but either way, I can promise you that this bullshit is going to blow up in your face very,_ very _soon!”_ Bobbi’s angry words were still ringing in his ears, and in a way Hunter was even concerned that she had actually been right, but he was also a lot more afraid of what would happen if he wasn’t able to get his shit together now and convince Coulson that he was still fit for duty, because he knew that if the director had seen the condition he had been in earlier, hiding from the world down in that old shooting range, hurting so much that he had barely been able to think straight, he would have most likely instantly banned him from going out into the field for the next few weeks and probably sent him to a shrink, too, just for good measure.

And right now, the young man wasn’t willing to accept either of that, because he was sure that the only thing keeping him going at the moment was the prospect of doing something productive again and he had no idea what he would do if that were taken away from him.

After taking one last deep breath and standing up straighter again, Hunter finally knocked on the door in front of him briefly, but then entered without waiting for a reply, knowing that Coulson was expecting him. The director was standing in front of the large window, looking outside as the mercenary came in, but turned around as soon as he became aware of him, a grave expression on his face as he scrutinised him for a moment, before sighing deeply and indicating for them both to move over to the desk.

“Hunter, thank you for coming here. Take a seat! I know none of this can be easy for you right now, so I’ll try to make this conversation as brief as I can.”

Hunter nodded silently as he followed Coulson’s instruction, teetering slightly on his chair for a second, as if to test that it was still stable, after he had thrown it across the room earlier that day, but then he focused again, while the director sat down in his own leather armchair as well, and for a moment neither of the two men said anything as they both just looked at each other, before Coulson finally spoke again, breaking the quiet.

“I haven’t really had the chance to say this yet, but I want you to know that I am truly sorry for what happened during your mission. Robert was my friend and while I know that you two had your fair share of problems, I also know how hard it is to lose your father like that, without warning, without having the chance to say goodbye.” Coulson’s words were clearly honest and heartfelt, and Hunter, who had obviously not expected this level of compassion from the director, after the heated argument they had had the last time they had spoken in here, looked slightly taken aback for a moment, before he finally nodded, his expression surprisingly composed under the circumstances.

“Yeah, thanks. It’s true, there’s still a lot of things I’d have liked to say to my dad, but honestly, I’m not sure if a million years would have been long enough to fix that train wreck of a relationship we had. Or even if our last conversation actually made things between us better or worse.” The mercenary sighed slightly at this, but as this conversation was already going in a way he would rather avoid, he quickly tried shifting the topic away from himself.

“I’m sure Bobbi already told you that he didn’t want to come with us back here to SHIELD. He wanted to help, I guess, but I think he was afraid that there would be no coming back from what he’d done, from creating that poison for what turned out to have been Hydra. In a way I think he was even afraid of facing you.”

“Me?”, Coulson replied in surprise, his eyebrows raised slightly as he leaned back in his chair.

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure he still considered you his friend, too, but he also thought that you would have been glad if we had left him behind once you found out what he did. That you wouldn’t understand it,” Hunter explained, watching the director carefully, curious to see his reaction.

Coulson remained quiet for a moment as he seemed to think about what to reply to this. The fact that Robert Hunter was dead now, surely made it a lot easier to forgive his actions in the past, but even without that, the agent couldn’t imagine turning his back on him, even after what he had done. After all, he hadn’t betrayed SHIELD for power, like John Garrett had done, or even, in fact, betrayed anyone at all, he had simply used the only opportunity he had seen left to save his wife, although clearly ignoring the moral consequences of his work in the process.

But Coulson had known both Robert and Katharine Hunter very well, had seen firsthand how much they had loved each other, and how much his friend had suffered from the mere idea of losing her, and in the end there was no part of him left that couldn’t sympathise with what he had done, trying to save her. And so he answered the mercenary accordingly.

“But I do understand it, and I wish Robert would have known that. But I guess I was a different man the last time I met your father, less… forgiving maybe.”

“Yeah, that’s what I told him, too. That you would give him a second chance, ‘cause that’s kind of what you do.” Hunter fell silent after this for a moment, desperately wanting to talk about anything else but his father now, but first needing to know something else, something that had been on his mind for the last few hours.

“So what’s going to happen now? With my dad’s body and everything, I mean. Did somebody find him already? What about the funeral? He needs to be buried next to my mum, but I’m sure he has already taken care of all the paperwork and whatnot, so-”, but now Coulson finally interrupted the younger man, a compassionate expression on his face.

“Don’t worry about that, I have somebody on site taking care of everything. With all the shooting and Trip landing the Quinjet in the middle of the neighbourhood, the police was at your father’s house within minutes, but Hydra was already gone. Talbot’s pulling a few strings to have the investigation closed quickly, and in the morning I’ll have a team there searching the place to make sure Robert didn’t have any more valuable intel hidden.

There will be a small funeral in two days, but with Hydra this aggressive at the moment, I won’t allow any SHIELD personnel to take part in it, I hope you understand that. And of course he’ll be buried next to Katharine, they’ve been apart for far too long already,” Coulson finished, his own sadness about his friend’s death catching up with him once more.

Hunter nodded in reply, needing a moment to say anything, as he was clearly getting choked up himself now, too. In an effort not to face Coulson directly, he leaned forward slightly and picked up the small hourglass that was standing on the director’s desk, turning it around in his hands absentmindedly.

“Good. But what are you planning to do about Hydra? Do you have any new leads? What about that guy my dad mentioned, the one who recruited him, Agent Hawkins, he’s Hydra, right?”, the mercenary suddenly asked, catching Coulson slightly off guard.

“Yes, we think so. And by my guess, pretty high up the food chain, too.”

“Alright, so did you have any luck finding him yet?“ Hunter wanted to know, wondering what progress the team had made during his absence.

“No, we’re still looking for him,” Coulson admitted grudgingly, but then continued in a more optimistic tone. “Skye is currently working on the laptop of the dead man you just saw downstairs, Ryan Andrews, as we believe he has a connection to the attacks from last night. Apparently he was working for Hydra himself, but he was on the run from them when he was killed, so we’re hoping that his computer might clear up a few questions we still have, especially about Hydra’s motives at this point. So far, it seems that they’re taking out anyone who’s a threat to them, be it a unit of soldiers attacking them or anyone with too much information about them, who could become a loose thread.”

“Like my father,” Hunter continued Coulson’s line of thought, his expression darkening for a second, before he forced himself to go on, not wanting to dwell on his death any longer. “Or the lab where he worked on the poison in the first place. Bobbi told you that it had been destroyed in a fire, right?“ he asked, waiting for the director to nod in agreement.

“Yes, she did, and going by what we know about Hydra, it does seem very likely that they burned down the building themselves, to destroy any evidence of the work they had done there, and to get rid of any of the scientists, who weren’t loyal to the cause.” But at this point, Hunter’s brow furrowed slightly, as he didn’t like what this line of thought was implying.

“Then what about my dad? He said he wasn’t there, because Mum had another seizure, but if that’s true, why wouldn’t they have just killed him later?” He was obviously worried that his father had lied to him after all, about his involvement with Hydra, but Coulson’s reply did manage to alleviate most of that again.

“They could have, of course, but I guess in the end it was a matter of risk assessment. A few SHIELD scientists dying in a fire is one thing to explain, but to have another, even though officially former agent, who just happened to live in the same city, die a few days later, that could have raised more questions than they would have liked, and as Robert wasn’t going to go around advertising the work he had done, it must have seemed like a smarter move to let him live at the time,” the director theorised, although it did seem like a credible explanation for the fact that Hydra had never made another attempt on the scientist’s life until today.

“But now that they started using his poison in larger attacks, they must have decided to correct that oversight to stop him from revealing what he knew,” Hunter went on in a constricted tone, unsure of what to think about the apparent fact that his father’s death had already been decided before he had even started his trip to England.

“Yes,” Coulson agreed. “The plan must have been to see if Robert had any intel on the project left and then to kill not just him, but you and Bobbi as well. But you got out of there and you brought the data back your father had saved for a situation like this, so don’t forget that Hydra didn’t win today. And they’re not going to, either.”

“I know,” Hunter replied in return, the look on his face becoming more impassive again as he did his best to hide his emotions once more as he finally came to the main reason why he had wanted to talk to Coulson in the first place. “I’m sure it’s just a matter of time until Skye digs something up, or we find some other lead, but when it’s time to go after the people behind all this, I want to be there. I’m a part of your field team, so whatever our next step is going to be, that’s where I want to be, out in the field, alright?”, he asked, looking at the director hopefully.

But while Coulson obviously wasn’t surprised by this request, he didn’t seem particularly happy about it, either.

“I know that you want to get back out there, Hunter, but I’m not sure if that is a good idea. I think we both still remember vividly what happened the last time you lost someone close to you and I let you go after the man responsible. You didn’t just screw up the entire operation, and risked a large group of civilians in the process, you also almost got yourself killed.” He knew that this wasn’t what the mercenary wanted to hear, but the director still continued resolutely, trying to convince the younger man that it was for the best if he listened to him for once.

“You just lost your own father today, and something like that doesn’t happen without leaving its mark on you, Hunter. Take some time, deal with it, and then we can talk about you getting back into the field, okay?”, Coulson asked hopefully, although a part of him already knew that the mercenary wasn’t going to accept that proposal, as he was simply too stubborn for his own good sometimes.

Hunter looked back at the agent for a moment, trying to think of a way to change his mind, but quickly realised that there would be little point in attempting to convince him that his father’s death hadn’t affected him. Of course Coulson hadn’t seemed to notice just how badly he was really doing at the moment, but at the same time, his emotional condition didn’t even seem to be the director’s main concern. He was just afraid that the events of a few months ago could repeat themselves now, and that Hunter would endanger himself or the team once more to get his revenge.

But despite the fact that he obviously wanted to get the people responsible for his father’s death, revenge actually wasn’t his main motivation right now and the situation clearly wasn’t the same as before, he just had to make Coulson understand that, no matter how difficult or even painful that would be.

“Did I ever tell you what happened right after the car crash that killed Hartley and Idaho?”, Hunter finally asked after another long moment, his voice clearly revealing how much he hated talking about this, and his fingers gripping the small hourglass tightly.

Coulson briefly scrutinised him in return, his brow furrowing slightly, as he wasn’t sure what exactly the mercenary was getting at, but in the end he obviously decided to play along for now as he replied slowly.

“I know what happened. After he had caused the collision, Carl Creel escaped with the obelisk. A short time later, Agent May got to your position, but she couldn’t free you in time, because you were trapped in the car. She went after Creel while you were captured by General Talbot’s men and he later made you an offer to turn me in, in exchange for two million dollars,” the director recalled the events of that day, still not understanding what any of this had to do with their current situation. But going by the look on Hunter’s face, he didn’t consider any of these things relevant, either, even though he was nodding in agreement.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s all true, but that’s not what I mean. I mean right afterwards, after the car had stopped spinning and was just lying there on the street, a flipped-over pile of junk, with Izzy and Idaho dead, and me trapped in there like an animal ready for slaughter.” The look in the young man’s eyes seemed almost haunted as he stared directly at his superior now, forcing himself to relive these minutes once more, as he seemed absolutely certain that he could only convince the director to give him another chance, if he made him understand how different the circumstances were this time.

Coulson returned his steady gaze, leaning back in his chair as he was listening to the mercenary’s story intently. He had of course read Hunter’s report about the entire incident before, but according to that, he had barely been able to remember the minutes right after the accident, until Agent May had found him, due to the injuries he himself had sustained during the crash. And given how horrific the entire thing had been, leaving two people dead instantly, Coulson had never had a reason to doubt that statement.

Until today.

“No, I don’t think you ever shared any of the details of what happened between the crash and May getting to the scene. In fact, I think you even denied remembering anything in your report on the incident.”

“‘ _Incident’_ , yeah, right,” Hunter repeated the word sarcastically, finding it almost insulting how such a vague and innocent sounding word could be used for something as catastrophic and horrible as the sudden deaths of two of his best friends. But as he wasn’t here to argue semantics with Coulson, he quickly continued, focusing back on the subject at hand.

“Well, now that we’re being all honest with each other, I guess I can admit that that part of the report was a lie. I was wide awake during and after the crash, I remember all of it perfectly,” he admitted, causing the frown on Coulson’s face to deepen.

“But then why lie?“ the director asked uncomprehendingly, scrutinising the man in front of him thoroughly. “What happened that you didn’t want anyone to know about?”

“Not much happened, really,” Hunter replied with a weak shrug, preparing himself to confess what he had done that day. Or rather, what he hadn’t done. “Izzy was lying dead next to me, and while I couldn’t be sure about Idaho right away, there wasn’t a peep coming from him, so I already figured that he was gone, too. Then I saw Creel approaching the car and I…”, he hesitated a moment, anger and bitterness darkening his features as he finally forced himself to say it out loud. “I did nothing. I played dead and I let the guy, who had just killed two of my friends get away with it.”

Understanding dawned on Coulson’s face as he looked back at the younger man, finally beginning to realise why he was bringing all of this up again, although he didn’t quite agree with the blame he was obviously still putting on himself for what had happened.

“You were incredibly lucky to get out of that crash as relatively unharmed as you did,” the director pointed out, leaning forward in his seat again, resting his arms on the desk. “You were trapped and on your own against a man, who has the power to turn himself into stone. Hunter, what exactly do you think you could have done differently?”

“I could have shot him for instance,” the mercenary replied matter-of-factly as he slammed the hourglass back on the table angrily, completely ignoring Coulson’s obvious attempt at alleviating his guilt. “I still had my gun, and Creel didn’t even check the inside of the car. I could have shot him while he was walking away and he never would have known what hit him, but I was just too afraid to do it. I don’t know, I guess a part of me thought that it wouldn’t work, but I should have tried. For Izzy and for Idaho I _definitely_ should have tried,” Hunter finished resolutely, both his expression and the tone of his voice leaving no doubt about how much he was still blaming himself for his inaction that day even now, months later.

The director wasn’t sure if this had actually been weighing this heavily on the younger man over all this time, or if losing his father had just brought the pain back to the surface, but he could easily see how vivid the deaths of his friends still were for him.

“So that was why you were so desperate to take him out later, wasn’t it?“ Coulson asked thoughtfully, even though he already knew the answer.

“Yeah. I made a mistake not killing Creel when I had the chance, so I had to make that right, no matter what. I guess shooting the others was probably a little extreme,” he pointedly ignored Coulson’s raised eyebrows at this, “and I know I’m lucky that May actually waited for me to wear a vest before paying me back, but at the time, it was the only thing I could do. It was my mistake, and I had to fix it, it was that simple.” Hunter’s expression was hard and decisive as he looked at his superior, waiting for him to reply something. But as Coulson finally answered, he was obviously still not sure why the mercenary had shared all this with him.

“Alright, I get that, I really do, even though I don’t agree with it, but how exactly is this story supposed to convince me to let you go up against Hydra once we manage to track them down? Hunter, I understand your desire to avenge your father, believe me, I do, but after what happened last time, I’m not going to let you take advantage of my sympathy again, you have to know that, right?”

The mercenary nodded in reply, although he wasn’t ready to accept this as the director’s final verdict.

“Yeah, I do, but the thing is, this isn’t the same as last time. It really isn’t,” he added as he saw Coulson’s sceptical expression.

“Back in that car I had a loaded gun and the element of surprise against just one man, and even though I might have been a little rattled from the crash, I’m still sure I could have taken him, if I hadn’t been too afraid to risk it. But this time there was nothing I could have done.

Hydra had a sniper in position and a full assault team coming after us, while I didn’t even have a weapon, and…” he hesitated once more, unsure about how much he should tell Coulson about the events that had followed his father’s death, but ultimately decided that Bobbi had most likely told him already anyway. “And honestly, I’d say that even after doing a triple somersault in the car, and probably hitting my head against everything in there about a dozen times, I had still been in a better condition then, than I was after my dad got shot. If it hadn’t been for Bobbi, I’d be dead now, too, and there was absolutely nothing either of us could have done to prevent what happened or to take out the Hydra team on the ground, without getting us both killed as well.”

Hunter was looking at the director almost imploringly, trying to make him understand that while he had screwed up during the operation to capture Creel, he wasn’t going to act that irrationally again. Or at least he wasn’t planning to.

“I know you think that this operation has become too personal for me and I admit that I want to find the people responsible for all of this, but this isn’t about revenge and it definitely isn’t about me fixing a mistake. Or at least not my own.”

At this point Coulson’s expression became slightly puzzled as he looked at the mercenary, not sure what he was alluding to.

“What do you mean, ‘not your own’?“ he asked, one eyebrow raised, causing Hunter to sigh grudgingly and look down at his hands for a moment, clearly uncomfortable.

“A lot of good people are dead and no matter how you look at it, or how understandable his motives might have been, my dad was right in the centre of all of this. Of course I get why he did what he did, he was trying to save my mum’s life after all, but he took the stuff that was killing her and he turned it into an even more dangerous weapon, not even caring who he was working for. Or as Bobbi put it, he took something completely horrible and he actually managed to make it worse.” At this point Hunter faced Coulson directly again, looking at him with the same intense expression in his eyes that reminded the director so much of his father in his younger days.

“Now Hydra is out there killing people with that poison my dad created and that has his name, my family’s name, written all over it. I’m not completely stupid, so you won’t have to worry about me planning to go on some one-man rampage against Hydra, or that I would ever risk the team again, but I want to be a part of this operation. I want to help make this right again. I have to, for my family.” At this point the mercenary finally fell silent, having made his case the best he could and hoping that it hadn’t been in vain, while he waited for the director to make his decision.

Coulson studied the young man in front of him for a long moment, obviously considering his request thoroughly. He could of course understand his situation and even had to admit that his explanation had sounded surprisingly reasonable, but he still wasn’t entirely convinced that letting him go out into the field again anytime soon would be a wise decision. But then again, under the current circumstances he wasn’t exactly sure if an unwise decision would automatically have to be a bad one, too.

“After we managed to take down Creel _despite_ your rash personal interference, you pretty much warned me that you might try to take advantage of my sympathy for you again if I let you stay with SHIELD, so how do I know this isn’t you doing exactly that?“ he asked, curiouslywaiting for the mercenary to reply. But Hunter just shrugged, not really knowing what else he could possibly say to his defence at this point.

“You can’t, I guess. You’re just gonna have to trust that I won’t do anything completely stupid and that while I might sometimes play fast and loose with my own safety, I would _never_ do anything that could endanger Bobbi, Skye, May or any of the others. I know I’m not a SHIELD agent, but I’m a part of this team and this time, I promise I’ll follow my orders. I just don’t want to be left standing at the touch line, doing nothing,” the mercenary explained honestly, inwardly begging Coulson to just make up his mind already, as he was getting tired of this argument.

And after taking another long look at Hunter, the director finally nodded, prompting the young man to take a relieved breath.

“Alright. This operation is still all-hands-on-deck, which includes you as well, Hunter, but unless you want me having you stay inside the base running back-end, you better remember that promise. You’ll follow my or May’s orders to a T, or at the first sign of you going out of line-”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it, I’m grounded. Don’t worry, I’ll behave myself this time,” the mercenary declared as he stood up from his chair again and headed towards the door, only to be held back by Coulson once again.

“Good. But Hunter,” the director began, causing the mercenary to turn around to him one more time.

“Yeah?”

“Go and get some rest now. You’ve been through hell today and you really look like you need it.”

Caught off guard by the friendly advice, the mercenary simply nodded in return, before finally leaving Coulson’s office, already feeling how this simple remark was scratching at the image of himself he was portraying for everyone else at the moment, of the focused professional, who couldn’t be thrown off his game by anything, not even by losing his own father.

But now that he had Coulson’s okay for remaining a part of the operation against Hydra, Hunter knew that he had to find a way to deal with his loss and the pain that was accompanying it, before he became a liability to anyone on his team. The only problem was just that he had absolutely no idea what to do, or even where to start. Not since he had pushed away the only person willing and able to help him.

**To be continued…**


	17. Can You Sleep?

Hunter wasn’t sure how long it had been since he was staring up at the dark ceiling somewhere above him, but he knew that it had probably been just an hour or two, and not the eternity it had felt like. But now that he was lying in bed, without anything left to distract him, the events of the day and all the revelations that had accompanied them were keeping him awake, playing out in his mind over and over again.

Not that he was actually looking forward to sleep much, at least not to the dreams that he was sure wouldn’t be far behind, but while his thoughts were still going a hundred miles per hour, his body was completely exhausted by now, wanting nothing more than to finally get some rest after this seemingly endless day.

He ran a hand across his face wearily, cringing slightly as his palm ran across the bruise on his cheek he had all but forgotten about with everything else that had happened, but which was still there, reminding him of the beating he had received just this morning and making him wish that that physical pain would be the only thing he would have to deal with at the moment.

Hunter knew of course that it didn’t have to be like this, that he didn’t have to be here alone, lying in the dark, trying futilely to fight his demons by himself. No, if he hadn’t been such an asshole to her earlier, he could have gone over to Bobbi’s room hours ago, knowing that she was the only one who could possibly help him right now – aside from a handful of drugs from Simmons maybe, if he were already more desperate – and that she wouldn’t turn him away after everything he had gone through today. But after the callous and almost cruel way he had talked to her just a few hours ago and had dismissed her obvious concern for him, he knew that he couldn’t ask for her help now, no matter how desperately he needed it.

Over the years this had turned into some kind of ritual between them, to support each other when one of them had been in an operation that had gone really, _really_ bad, but it had all begun a few months into their relationship, before they had even been living together, when Bobbi had been out on an assignment and Hunter had been at home in his apartment, waiting for her to come back.

The plan had been for her to give him a call once she had been on her way back into town, but even though it had already been way past the ETA she had given him, he hadn’t been overly concerned at first, given the fact that he had known well enough how easily a mission schedule could be delayed for a whole bunch of reasons, without actually anything bad happening. But when someone had suddenly knocked on his door in the middle of the night, he had to admit, that for a moment he had been afraid that there would be a nameless SHIELD agent standing there, waiting to deliver bad news.

To Hunter’s immense relief, that hadn’t been the case, though, as Bobbi herself had been standing in the corridor in front of his apartment, but going by the shape in which she had been, he had known that it wouldn’t have taken much more, for his fear to become reality.

Her face and body had been covered in bruises, her left arm and wrist broken and there had been a thick bandage covering a bullet hole in her shoulder, which had later left a scar that he knew was still there. A part of the mercenary had even wondered how she had been able to keep herself upright, but going by the few things Bobbi had said that night, he had gathered that she had insisted on being released from SHIELD’s medical care once she had been patched up, wanting nothing more than to return home, to _him_ , despite her doctor’s objections.

Even now Hunter still didn’t know much about the actual mission his ex-wife had been on at the time, just that her team had been made and that they had lost two agents, two of her friends, in the process, and that Bobbi’s condition after their return hadn’t even been the worst.

That night, when she had turned up on his doorstep, the look in her eyes haunted by what she had seen, her hands still shaking every time she had thought he wasn’t looking, he had led her to his bed, not really knowing what else to do, and just laid next to her, before finally pulling her into his arms carefully to reassure her with his mere physical presence.

Wrapped inside the warm blanket, the most sexual thing that had happened that night, aside from the closeness of their bodies, had been a tender kiss or two to her forehead, as Bobbi had been far too weak and exhausted to even be looking for anything else, and Hunter had been far too concerned about her condition, but it had still been one of the most intimate moments of their entire relationship and actually still was.

Eventually Bobbi had gotten to return the favour, when Hunter had lost one of his team mates during a job, and from then on it hadn’t even mattered if they had been together at the time or not, if one of them had needed help dealing with the horrible things their jobs had exposed them to, they had always known that the other’s door would be open, no questions asked.

Sighing, Hunter contemplated once again if he shouldn’t just go over to his ex-wife’s room and apologise for his rude behaviour, but in a way he was afraid that if he only did that now, right before asking for her help, it would seem insincere, as if he were just trying to take advantage of her, and he didn’t want to risk that.

Bobbi had been his anchor in all of this, from the moment he had stepped out of Coulson’s office early this afternoon, and as thanks for that, he had treated her like shit, practically ridiculed her concern for him and simply turned away her offer to help him deal with his pain over his father’s death. No, at this point Hunter knew that if he wanted to make amends for his horrible behaviour, he had to do it properly, which also meant not waking the agent in the middle of the night with a rushed apology, only to beg her to save his sorry ass once more, before he went absolutely crazy, left on his own.

Sitting up in his bed now in frustration, Hunter ran his hands through his hair for a moment, trying to focus on something, anything really that didn’t involve images of his dying father or people being killed by the poison he had created, but his efforts were to no avail. Sighing, he reached over to the bedside table and turned on the small lamp there, before getting up and heading over to the bathroom, eager to get out of his bed, even if only for a moment. But once he came back into the room, the prospect of lying down again immediately, didn’t sound particularly inviting, either, and so Hunter opened the large trunk that was standing at the end of his bed, courtesy of SHIELD, and which he used to store a random collection of some of his old stuff.

He wasn’t a very sentimental person and didn’t keep a lot of mementos, unlike a certain director he knew, but he vaguely remembered holding onto something his mother had sent him some time after he had completely broken off any contact with her and especially his father.

After about a minute of rummaging through old magazines, papers, DVDs he hadn’t watched in ages and other stuff he barely remembered why he was keeping it, Hunter finally found what he was looking for, an old picture of his family, taken some time after his eighth birthday, if he wasn’t mistaken.

His parents had taken him to a football match that day to celebrate, and while he had been angry at first that they had missed the actual date, once again, he had ended up having so much fun that day that he had completely forgotten about all of that, as could be seen all too clearly in the big smile he was sporting in the picture, his mother and father next to him, laughing as if none of them had any care in the world.

Hunter had sat down on the ground now, leaning with his back against the bed frame, and ran his thumb across the picture gently, trying to hold on to the memory.

When his mother had sent him the photograph in an effort to get him to come back home, or at least not keep ignoring her phone calls any longer, he had actually been close to just tossing it in the trash, feeling that it had been a cheap attempt on her part to ignore all the bad things that had happened between them as well, but for some reason he had changed his mind and put it in one of his drawers instead, forgetting all about it soon afterwards.

Or at least it had remained forgotten, until the day that Hunter had come back to his own place, after having spent the previous few weeks at his parents’ house, saying his goodbye to his mother. Not even twenty-four hours had passed since her funeral when he had come through the door of his apartment, and it hadn’t been long until he had begun to wonder if he even possessed any pictures of the deceased woman. When he had finally remembered the old photograph, he had searched for it immediately and had even ended up framing it, after he hadn’t so much as bothered looking at it for years.

After that, the picture had been standing on his dresser for a while, until the initial pain over his loss had subsided again, and his anger had come back, maybe even stronger than before. Anger at his father for still holding onto his damn secrets about SHIELD, even now, anger at his mother, for keeping her condition from him for as long as she had, but also anger at himself, for not realising how desperately she had been reaching out to him, and what precious time he had been throwing away by ignoring her. And as the photograph had been an all too vivid reminder of all that anger, he had ultimately put it away again, eager to close the chapter of his family once and for all.

Looking at the happy faces staring back at him right now, Hunter couldn’t help but feel a sudden twinge of pity for all three people in the photograph, as he was sure that back then, all of them had expected things to stay the way they had been that day.

His younger self had thought that his parents would find a way to work less, to spend more time with him again, and that the vague notion he had just begun to have, that they hadn’t always been honest with him, had been nothing more than his imagination, but in the years following that picture, he had ended up being disappointed over and over again, until he had barely been able to trust anyone anymore, let alone those closest to him.

His mother, a picture of health that day, had certainly not expected to spend the last six years of her life inching closer to death every day, unable to do the work she had loved so much and her own son unwilling to even talk to her, and yet that had been her fate in the end. And while Hunter was still sad about her death, he couldn’t help but clench his free hand into a fist in anger without even noticing as he remembered that she had kept the true cause of her condition from him even as she had been about to die, that she had still chosen to lie to him, although she had pretended to be honest with him just that once.

And his father, who had proudly wrapped his arms around his family in the picture, had not only lost his wife and the respect of his son, but had also become a creator of death and pain on behalf of Hydra, no matter how good his reason for that had been or how much he had despised his work.

As the hurt and desperation he was feeling about his father’s death started mixing once again with the anger about his actions, Hunter’s right hand tensed up now as well, his fingers cracking the glass protecting the photograph. He let out a cry of frustration as he ultimately flung the picture against the wall forcefully, causing the glass to shatter and the wooden frame to burst open loudly, and while the pieces cluttered to the floor, the mercenary buried his face in his hands, trying to calm himself, even though he already knew that his efforts would be in vain.

But as there was suddenly a soft knock on the door a few moments later, he looked up again, visibly startled, until his eyes fell on the broken picture frame once again.

“Shit,” Hunter muttered as he quickly scrambled back to his feet, remembering that Skye’s room was right next door from his and that he had most likely woken her up now by throwing stuff against her wall in the middle of the night.

But as he had made it to the door and opened it quickly, wearing nothing more than an old t-shirt and a pair of boxers, it wasn’t the woman he had expected, who was standing in front of him now, scrutinising him thoughtfully.

“Bobbi!”, Hunter greeted her, obviously caught completely off guard by her being here. “What… Why are you…”, he began, only to trail off every time he started a new question, causing the blond woman in front of him to smile slightly. She was wearing a long pyjama with a white t-shirt underneath the open jacket, her bare feet shifting slightly on the cold floor.

“Can you sleep?“ she asked softly, even though she could easily see the answer for herself, but after a moment’s hesitation, Hunter actually did reply to her, even if just by a faint shake of his head.

“I could come in if you want me to,” Bobbi now offered and after a few more seconds, her ex-husband finally nodded, taking a deep breath in obvious relief.

“Please,” he merely uttered as he stepped aside to allow Bobbi to come in, and as she took his hand and led him over to the bed, Hunter couldn’t remember the last time he had ever been this grateful to anyone.

**To be continued…**


	18. I'm Here For You

Bobbi had already slipped underneath the warm blanket as Hunter slowly laid down next to her, and while it was simply due to the fact that his bed had not been designed for two people, that they ended up lying so incredibly close to each other, it didn't seem as if either of them minded very much. But if Hunter was being honest with himself, he knew that he was far too messed up at the moment anyway to be thinking of this situation as in any way romantic, no matter for how long a part of him had been hoping to have his ex-wife in his bed once again.

But the mercenary could tell that Bobbi’s presence was already having a calming effect on him, even though she hadn't said anything yet, since she had entered his room, and it immediately reminded him of how good they could be together, when they weren’t busy driving each other up the wall.

At some point during their marriage, when he hadn’t been able to tolerate his wife’s constant lies and secrets any longer, and she had become fed up with him questioning everything she did, they had developed the increasingly destructive tendency to turn almost every conversation into a fight, which had somehow even become worse after their divorce.

But despite all of that, despite their seemingly endless list of problems, and no matter how much he usually tried to deny this, there was actually nobody in this world that Hunter trusted more than Bobbi, and he knew that if there was anyone who could possibly help him put himself back together after everything he had been through today, it was her.

“I didn’t think you’d come here,” he suddenly admitted, looking at the blond agent with remorseful eyes, knowing that he hadn’t done anything to deserve her taking care of him like this. Bobbi just shrugged weakly in reply, her mouth twitching slightly as she kept looking back at her ex, her blue eyes never leaving his.

“Honestly, I was kind of expecting _you_ to show up at _my_ door, but eventually I figured you weren’t going to. But despite of what I said earlier, I still wanted to make sure you were alright,” she answered softly as she raised her hand and, without even thinking about it, traced her fingers over the stubble on Hunter’s cheek in an all too familiar gesture.

Unconsciously closing his eyes in response, the mercenary gently took Bobbi’s hand in his and held it against the side of his face as he vaguely thought just how much he had missed her touch. But then he swallowed hard as he remembered the reason why he hadn’t gone over to his ex-wife’s room in the first place, and his expression darkened as he looked at her once more.

“Bob, I’m sorry for what I said to you outside the lab. And for how I said it. You’ve been doing nothing but saving me today, first from having to face my dad by myself, then from _killing_ him myself,” he joked weakly, only for the smile to die on his lips instantly even before he continued, “you saved me from being taken out by Hydra as well and now you’re even still busy saving me from my own bloody stupidity. I know I should have thanked you for all of that a hundred times already, and I didn’t. Instead I've been acting like a bloody arsehole and treated you like you were the enemy, but I really am sorry for that,” Hunter finished, for a moment unsure how to interpret the expression on Bobbi’s face as she looked back at him now, completely quiet for a moment.

But then a warm smile spread on her lips as she freed her hand from Hunter's hold and propped herself up a little, scrutinising the mercenary even more thoroughly.

"I know you're sorry, and trust me, it's okay," Bobbi declared in a forgiving tone, but as she noticed the surprised and almost disbelieving look Hunter was giving her now, the agent quickly elaborated, the smile on her lips turning into an almost teasing grin. "What, did you really think that today of all days I would expect you to stop being a stubborn idiot, Hunter?"

He knew of course that she was only trying to lighten up the mood, but the mercenary couldn't really bring himself to follow Bobbi's example and look past his earlier horrible behaviour towards her quite this quickly. Instead he stared back at her now, shaking his head incredulously.

"Alright, I get that you're willing to cut me some slack after the day that I've had, but you can't honestly expect me to believe you're not mad after the way I treated you earlier. I think I know you better than that, Bobbi," Hunter pointed out, but instead of giving him a direct answer, the agent looked at him with an understanding expression as she replied with a question of her own.

“Hunter, do you remember the night after I came back from that mission in Manila?“ she wondered, but of course they both knew that she didn't even have to ask. Bobbi's assignment in Manila, one of the toughest she had ever been on, had been about three months into their marriage, practically still in their honeymoon phase, and while on the outside the agent had gotten away with barely a scratch, she had been plagued by vivid nightmares for weeks afterwards, with the first night having been arguably the worst.

“You mean when I tried to wake you from a nightmare, and you almost broke my arm and actually dislocated my shoulder in response?“ Hunter asked with a small grin on his lips, as if this was somehow a fond memory to him.

“Yeah, that night,” Bobbi replied sheepishly, obviously still feeling bad about the incident, even though it had been years ago. “I really hurt you back then, I know that, and I wish it hadn’t happened, but I couldn't control my reaction. I was trying to protect myself without even realising it, and because you were the only one close to me, you ended up getting hurt for all your trouble."

"And now you're saying I've been doing the same," Hunter sighed, completing Bobbi's obvious line of thought, even though he didn't seem to be completely convinced yet.

There was a soft smile on her lips as the agent rested her right hand on the mercenary's chest, but the look in her eyes was incredibly sad as she continued.

"Hunter, there is no 'right' way how to deal with what you've been through, how to handle this kind of loss, but I know that just pushing it away and pretending like you don't care what happened isn't going to help you. Of course I also know that you don't like other people seeing you hurt, but I'm not 'other people', alright?" At this point, Bobbi scooted over to cross the remaining distance between them and wrapped her arms around her ex tightly, her lips right next to his ear as she continued softly.

“I want to help you, so whatever you need, I’m here for you, okay? I’ll always be here for you, Lance, don’t ever forget that!” The mercenary had returned her embrace by now and was holding Bobbi in his arms tightly, glad that she couldn't see the expression on his face as he felt the last remains of his composure slipping away.

And when he finally spoke, his voice was so quiet, it was barely audible, even in the silence of the room.

"I hated him, you know?“ Hunter admitted, knowing that this time he owed Bobbi the whole truth and not some evasive bullshit, like he had given her last time. "Ever since I was a teenager, we did nothing but fight, he was the main reason why I basically never went home again once I had left for the army, and when Mum died, a part of me wished it would have been him instead. So why the bloody hell does it even hurt so much that he's dead now?“ he asked, desperately needing to know the answer as his hold on Bobbi became even stronger and he buried his face against the side of her neck, shaking slightly.

As the blond woman ran one hand through his short hair soothingly, she briefly wondered if Hunter was really prepared to hear her reply to his question, but then she figured that while it would surely not be easy to hear, it might actually help him in the end, and so she went on with what she wanted to say.

"Because there are never just bad memories, right?" she asked, feeling Hunter tense in her arms. "He was your dad and even though I barely knew him, I could tell that despite all of his faults, he loved you incredibly much, so I know that there must have been good moments between you two as well. And now it's too late to fix your problems. There'll never be any more good moments between you, or even bad ones. Now he's just..."

"Gone," Hunter finished Bobbi' sentence for her, his voice breaking as her words were hitting him a lot harder than he would have liked.

He was holding onto his ex-wife almost desperately now as the full extent of his loss was threatening to overwhelm him and the pain was becoming too much to bear. And as if his father's death hadn't been horrible enough, Hunter suddenly thought back to his earlier conversation with Coulson, and how they had talked about the deaths of Izzy and Idaho. And even though it was actually pretty obvious, only now he finally realised how similar the situation a few months ago had been, how he hadn't been able to say goodbye to his friends, either, and how their sudden and completely unexpected loss had left him reeling, unable to cope with it by himself.

Hunter took a shaky breath as he slowly pulled back from Bobbi's embrace, but just far enough, so he could look at her properly. He could tell that she immediately noticed the vulnerable expression and the tears in his eyes, but she didn't say anything and just waited for him to speak, which he finally did after a long moment of silence.

"I didn't talk to my dad in five years and then the last thing I said to him was, that he was responsible for the murders that Hydra committed, that the blood of those people was on his hands, too. And when Izzy died, I had just cut off her arm to save her, because that bloody obelisk thing was killing her, but I didn't even take a second to tell her how important she was to me, that I didn't want to lose her." Hunter fell silent for a second to take another deep breath, steadier this time, then brought one hand up to Bobbi's face, cupping her cheek gently.

"Bob, if anything ever happens to either of us, I don't want there to be things left unsaid. I want you to know how-", he began, but was suddenly cut off mid-sentence by Bobbi's soft lips on his. Hunter's breath caught in his throat at the sensation, but before he could react to the kiss in any way, the blond woman in his arms had already pulled back again and was looking at him now with an expression in her eyes he hadn't seen in a long time.

"Trust me, Lance, I already know. And if either of us ever does die out there, there won't be anything left unsaid, because we've already said it, a hundred, a thousand times before." Then Bobbi gave him another kiss, but just a tender one to his forehead this time, before she shifted her position, so that she ended up with her head resting against Hunter's shoulder, her arms wrapped tightly around him.

The mercenary sighed deeply as he returned the embrace, his cheek resting against Bobbi's head, her blond hair tingling slightly against his lips. He knew that for some reason, she didn't want him to talk about his feelings for her right now, but as he was holding her in his arms like this, he couldn't help but be reminded of a time when she had still been his, and it hadn't taken him falling apart for her to share his bed with him.

In the end his lips moved without him even thinking about it, but the words that came out were so soft, they weren't even a whisper, and Hunter doubted, that Bobbi had even been able to hear them.

"I love you."

**To be continued...**


	19. Start Over

Kissing Hunter had not been part of the plan.

Half an hour ago, when Bobbi had still been lying in her own bed, contemplating whether or not to go over to her ex-husband’s bunk to offer him her support once again, despite his earlier stubborn insistence that he was alright, she had finally decided to do so with the strict resolve not to act on any of the impulses she had known she would have once she allowed herself to get this close to him again.

In the past these moments of comfort between them, while obviously incredibly intimate, had never led to anything more sexual, but as they had always either been in a relationship together at the time anyway, or at least been sleeping with each other on and off, that had never really been a problem for either of them.

But now it had been far too long since Bobbi had felt Hunter’s strong arms around her like this, his body pressed against hers, and only the fact that she knew he was in pain, even though it was emotional and not physical in nature, had stopped her so far from being all over him. The most important thing for her now was that she wanted to be there for him, to help him deal with his trauma, just like he had done for her several times in the past, and she knew that this way worked best for both of them, but she also couldn’t deny that a part of her was longing for this to be more, that she wanted to be with Hunter and not just as his moral support.

Bobbi had just settled next to the mercenary, still in his arms, with her head resting against his shoulder, and as she could feel him leaning with his cheek against the top of her head, his words from just moments ago kept replaying in her mind over and over again.

_"Bob, if anything ever happens to either of us, I don't want there to be things left unsaid. I want you to know how-",_

She had been so caught off guard by his impending confession, that cutting him off with a kiss had been the only thing she had been able to think of at the time, but Bobbi was still kicking herself mentally for that impulsive action, because now her lips were still tingling from the sensation, and deep down she wanted nothing more than to kiss him again, and to tell him that yes, she did know exactly what he had been going to say, because she felt it, too.

It wasn’t something she liked to admit to herself, and she definitely wasn’t ready to say it to Hunter yet, but she still loved him just as much as she had always had, and for the first time in a very long time, there was no anger or frustration clouding her feelings for him. If the circumstances at the moment had just been different, Bobbi was sure that they would already be well on their way to getting back together again, but as it was, she was determined to keep their relationship strictly platonic, at least until she was sure that Hunter was emotionally stable again.

As she tried to relax in his arms, Bobbi could hear a soft whisper coming from the mercenary, and even though she couldn’t understand the words, she knew right away what he had said, and her breath caught in her throat for a moment. When her lips moved in reply, there was not a single sound escaping them, and as Hunter couldn’t see her face, he didn’t notice the tear running down the side of her cheek, either, as the agent’s emotions overwhelmed her for a brief moment.

_“I love you, too.”_

As he finally surrendered to his exhaustion, Hunter quickly fell asleep after this, as Bobbi could tell by the calm beating of his heart and the steady rise and fall of his chest as he was breathing evenly, and once she had turned off the lamp on the bedside table, it didn’t take long for her to drift off to sleep as well, her ex’s momentary peacefulness letting her hope that her presence here was already helping him, even though she knew of course that the pain over his father’s death would not go away in one night. That was something Hunter would have to deal with for a long time to come, but as she closed her eyes and cuddled up against him even more closely, the agent silently promised both him and herself that as long as he would let her, she would be right next to him, every step of the way.

 

* * *

 

When Bobbi suddenly woke up with a start, she needed a moment to get her bearings and to remember why she wasn’t alone in her own bed as usual, but as she realised what had woken her up, that it was Hunter, who was lying next to her, panting and jerking in his sleep, everything came back to her instantly.

“Hunter!“ the agent called out to him as she placed one hand on the mercenary’s shoulder in an attempt to calm him, while she reached for the lamp with the other, blinking slightly in the sudden light filling the room.

Now that she could actually see him properly, Bobbi took a second to look at her ex, worry creasing her brow as she saw the agonised and almost panicked expression on his face. Hunter was obviously in the throes of a terrible nightmare, and as she knew all too well from her own experience how startling it could be to be suddenly pulled back to reality, she did her best to be as gentle as possible as she leaned over the mercenary now, holding him down with one hand while she laid the other on his cheek, caressing his face.

“Hunter! Hunter wake up!”, she ordered, more silently than before, but still firmly trying to reach him. Her words didn’t seem to have any effect at first, though, as the young man kept moving frantically under her hands, his lips moving slightly now as he was mumbling in his sleep.

“No! No, don’t! Please, stay with me!” The words were extremely faint, but Bobbi could feel the urgency behind them and she swallowed hard, as she was sure that Hunter was reliving his father’s last moments again and how helpless he had been, unable to save him. But as her ex went on, a startled look appeared on her face, as his next words were not exactly what she had expected to hear.

“I’m here, just… just hold on! Stay with me, Bobbi!” For a second, the blond agent just stared down at Hunter, not knowing what to think of any of this, but then she realised that it didn’t matter what he was dreaming about, just that he was obviously desperate and afraid and that she needed to get him to wake up as quickly as possible.

Cupping his face with both hands now, Bobbi leaned down to the mercenary, her voice soft but insistent as she spoke again.

“Hunter… Lance, I’m here, alright? I’m fine and I promise I’m not going anywhere.” She ran one hand soothingly through his hair now and after another long moment, her ex-husband finally seemed to calm down, his breathing evening out again, and when his eyes opened slowly, Bobbi couldn’t help but sigh deeply in relief.

“Bob?“ he asked, obviously confused to find his ex-wife staring down at him like this, but even though he clearly didn’t mean to show it, the agent didn’t miss the worried expression which passed over his face briefly, as if he wasn’t completely convinced that she was real and that she was actually alright.

“Hey!“ Bobbi greeted him with a smile as she sat back, trying to hide just how worried she had been just moments ago. “Bad dream?”, she asked carefully, a part of her wanting to know what his nightmare had been about, but reminding herself that she probably shouldn’t pry.

“Yeah,” the mercenary admitted with a small nod as he sat up and ran a hand over his face wearily. The look in his eyes was distant, even haunted, as his mind was obviously still caught up in the images he had seen in his dreams, but as Bobbi was already certain that he was not going to tell her about any of that, he suddenly surprised her as he began to talk in a low voice, facing away from her.

“We were back at my dad’s place and he and I were arguing – obviously – about Mum, Hydra, I don’t even really remember, and then he got shot, just like it really happened, but… after he collapsed, he suddenly started trembling like all those soldiers we saw on the tape, the ones Hydra poisoned, and I knew he was in pain, but I couldn’t do anything, I…” At this point Hunter broke off, taking a few deep breaths, as the memories of both what he had seen in his nightmare and what had really happened were clearly taking their toll on him.

As she was feeling a sudden surge of compassion at his desolate appearance, Bobbi reached out and took Hunter’s hand in hers, intertwining their fingers as she was trying to project as much support to him as possible with this small gesture. The mercenary turned his head slightly now, so he was looking directly at his ex-wife, a barely noticeable smile playing on his lips as he studied her for a moment.

“What?“ she finally asked as Hunter kept looking at her, feeling suddenly extremely self-aware under his constant gaze.

“I just thought that I’ll actually miss this once things go back to normal,” he replied, effectively changing the topic away from his nightmare, but only prompting an utterly confused look from Bobbi.

“Miss what exactly? And what do you mean ‘once things go back to normal’?”, she asked in return, not really knowing what Hunter was getting at.

The mercenary sighed briefly before he answered his ex, his thumb stroking across the back of her hand absentmindedly.

“Well, _this_ , us actually getting along for once,” he began to explain, completely ignoring the increasingly upset look on Bobbi’s face as he went on. “I know I’m in a bad place right now, so you’re being nice to me, and believe me, I really appreciate that, but I’m not so naïve to actually think this is going to last. Once I get better, we’ll be back to shouting at each other over every little detail, you’re probably going to turn into a hell beast again while I’ll take every opportunity to take jabs at you, and before you know it, we’ll either kill each other, or Agent May and the others will do that for us, because they won’t be able to stand all that fighting anymore, either.”

It was obvious that Hunter hadn’t meant to hurt Bobbi with his words, and that none of this was what he wanted, but that it was nevertheless how he expected their future to look like. The agent had averted her eyes from him and was looking down at the blanket covering both her and Hunter, not really knowing what to say, but as her eyes ultimately fell on their still intertwined hands, she could feel a new resolve running through her, and she tightened her grip as she looked up at her ex once more.

“But what if I don’t want that? If I really like the way things between us are now, too?” Bobbi asked, saddened, even horrified by the mere idea that what Hunter had just described would really always be the inevitable outcome of their relationship. She was fighting the urge to move towards the mercenary, to close the small distance between them and to press her lips against his once more to emphasise her point, but in the end she stayed where she was, even though the look in her eyes was clearly reflecting her conflicting emotions.

“Hunter, when we talked in the gym a few days ago, and you told me about your parents, you said that telling me the truth might perhaps give us another chance, that we could start over, and I think I’d really like that,” she finished, not allowing herself to put any more of her true feelings out there, as she honestly wasn’t sure if she could handle it if Hunter told her now that he had changed his mind, that he didn’t actually believe that there was hope for them yet.

But as the mercenary looked back at her now, fixating her with an intense gaze, as if he was trying to determine the truthfulness of her words, Bobbi could tell that even though he was clearly still hesitant to make the next move, Hunter was definitely happy about her confession.

His right hand still locked with Bobbi’s, he now raised his left one slowly and caressed the blond woman’s cheek, causing her to lean into his touch instinctively.

“Yeah, me too,” he finally replied, his voice husky with emotion as he leaned forward, capturing his ex-wife’s lips with his own as his hand moved towards the side of her neck, pulling her closer. 

For a split second, Bobbi hesitated as she remembered her earlier conviction to keep this visit strictly platonic, considering Hunter’s vulnerable state at the moment, but as pretty much every part of her being wanted this, wanted _him_ , she quickly ignored the tiny voice in the back of her head and eagerly responded to the mercenary’s kiss.

She had missed him so much, the sensation of his lips against hers, the feeling of his touch on her skin, and when Hunter pushed her down on the bed after a while, both of his hands roaming her body now, Bobbi didn’t resist and instead pulled him with her so that he ended up lying on top of her.

Their kissing had become more passionate by now, their movements almost frantic and once they had gotten rid of any offending clothing, nothing was left to stop the two from being with each other as they hadn’t been in ages. But even though the trace of desperation in Hunter’s expression wasn’t lost on Bobbi, she was so caught up in the moment and overwhelmed by her own feelings for him, that she paid no heed to it and had pretty much forgotten about it once it was gone again.

When they were done, both of them panting heavily, Hunter laid next to Bobbi again and this time it was him, who took a hold of her hand, intertwining their fingers once again, while he pushed a few strands of hair out of the blond woman’s face with his free hand, eliciting a soft smile from her in response.

Either, because they were both still out of breath, or because they didn’t really know what to say, they were completely quiet for a while as they just laid next to each other, their eyes and hands locked, but in the end it was Bobbi, who broke the almost reverent silence, a small grin on her lips as she propped herself up so that she was looking down at Hunter.

“Soo… was that part of the ‘mutually-respectful-co-workers’ deal, too?“ she asked, her voice sounding perfectly innocent as she pulled the blanket around herself absentmindedly, not used to exposing herself like this to her ex anymore.

“God, I hope not,” Hunter actually laughed in return, caught so entirely off guard by Bobbi’s quip, that he suddenly appeared to be in a good mood for the first time since all of this had begun, when Coulson had briefed them on Hydra’s attack yesterday. “Otherwise there’s soon going to be a whole line of people outside my door that I’ll have to disappoint,” he explained, running his hand through Bobbi’s hair in a loving gesture, before he pushed himself up a little, and, while pulling her down simultaneously, kissed her gently once again.

As their lips parted, they both remained in this position, not even an inch apart, but as Hunter’s brown eyes were staring back at her, Bobbi couldn’t help but feel the smallest trace of doubt creeping up on her, making her wonder if sleeping with her ex had been the right choice after all. She had been completely honest with him earlier, when she had told him that she wanted to give them another chance, that she wanted to start over, but now it suddenly seemed as if they were just taking the same road as before, the one that had always led to them constantly fighting, until breaking up had ended up being the least painful solution for their problems.

And Bobbi _really_ didn’t want that.

“What are you thinking about?” Hunter suddenly asked, as he obviously knew Bobbi well enough to recognise when something was troubling her. He had moved back a little now, so he could get a better look at her, and when the agent took a moment to reply, he laid his hand on her cheek once again, his thumb stroking across her soft skin.

Bobbi laid her hand on top of his, unwilling to let him break the contact, and after she took a deep breath to encourage herself, she finally began to explain her concerns, hoping that Hunter wouldn’t think that she was turning him down.

“I was just wondering if this has really been such a good timing. I don’t regret what we just did, Hunter, but maybe we’ve just been taking things too fast, maybe that’s always been our problem.” She knew that her ex understood perfectly what she was talking about, but when he suddenly replied, Bobbi couldn’t help but roll her eyes as he chose to make light of the situation, as it often seemed to be his preferred method of dealing with things.

“Alright, maybe it was a little fast, but I haven’t seen you naked in over a year – what did you expect?”, the mercenary asked, only to continue with an absolutely sincere expression on his face. “But I promise I’ll take things a little slower next time.”

“That’s not what I mean, dummie, and you know it,” Bobbi replied with a slightly exasperated sigh, even though she couldn’t quite hide the smirk on her lips as she hit Hunter’s arm playfully. But as she quickly decided that two could play at this game, there was a teasing glint in her eyes as she continued in a completely serious tone. “But yeah, that’d be nice, too.”

Her determination not to laugh at the fake hurt look Hunter was giving her now only lasted for about two seconds, before Bobbi leaned towards the mercenary once again and kissed him, still smiling brightly, as she was well aware that while she often criticised his, what she liked to call ‘childish’ or ‘irresponsible’ behaviour, it was also one of his most endearing features and one of the main reasons why she had fallen in love with him in the first place.

“But I’m serious, Hunter,” the agent ultimately continued as she broke the kiss, staying as close to the mercenary as before. “I know how you feel about me, and I really hope you know how I feel about you, too,” she declared, placing one hand on his chest gently, “but this, _us_ , it’s always going too fast. We keep going around in circles, and it never ends well, and I’m _tired_ of that. So instead of rushing right into things again, we should just take one small step after the other and see where it goes. But as I’m pretty sure that we’ve already passed the ‘mutually-respectful-co-workers’ stage somewhere in the last twenty-four hours, how about we just go with ‘friends’ for now?”

Hunter was looking deep into her eyes for a moment, taking his time to figure out what to say to this, and when he finally replied, his brow was slightly furrowed, as if he couldn’t quite bring himself to follow Bobbi’s reasoning.

“And you really think that could work? You and me being friends?“ he asked sceptically, causing Bobbi’s lips to spread into an optimistic grin.

“Well, we’ve never actually tried it before, so why not just give it a shot? And you never know, maybe it will even keep me from turning into a hell beast again at all, so I’d say being friends doesn’t actually sound so bad, does it?”

After taking another long look at the woman in front of him, a small smile playing on his lips at her using this less than favourable term for herself, Hunter finally nodded, prompting her grin to become even wider. But as he replied, his voice surprisingly matter-of-factly, Bobbi had to admit that she was a little concerned what his answer would be. At least at first.

“It’s a bold concept, I guess, you and me trying to get along as friends, but alright, I’m willing to give it a chance, but only under _one_ condition,” Hunter declared, but then continued with a smirk, quickly dispelling Bobbi’s worries again. “That we only start with that in the morning.” And before she had the chance to reply anything, Hunter had already captured his ex-wife’s lips in another hungry kiss, and was pushing her back down against the pillow. For a moment Bobbi was about to protest, to point out that this was not exactly a good way to begin their new ‘friendship’, but then she found that she had to agree with the mercenary and that there would really be no point in pushing him away now, not when she was already lying naked in his bed. But from tomorrow on, things would be different between them, better, or at least that was what Bobbi was hoping as she gave in to Hunter’s touch once again.

**To be continued…**


	20. Deal With It

As Hunter woke up slowly, he vaguely realised that this time there had been no nightmares disturbing his sleep and that he actually felt at least somewhat rested, despite the fact that it was only about five thirty a.m., as a quick glance at his alarm clock told him.

His head still half buried in the pillows, he reached out to the other side of the bed, where Bobbi had been lying next to him as he had drifted off to sleep, both of them exhausted but content after their late-night activities, but now there was no-one there. Hunter sighed in disappointment as he turned to look at the abandoned space beside him, his bed already feeling empty without the blond woman, but then he noticed that the sheets were still warm from her body, meaning that she couldn’t have been gone very long. Blinking a few times to shake off the remaining drowsiness of sleep, the mercenary lifted his head up slowly and finally noticed the light shining into the room through the bathroom door which was standing slightly ajar.

At this point, Hunter also realised what had woken him up in the first place, that it had been Bobbi’s voice coming from the other room, as he could now hear her once again, angrily uttering a string of curses, accompanied by the occasional pained noise. Hunter’s brow quickly furrowed in concern and he was completely awake in an instant as he got out of bed, pulled on the pair of boxers that had landed on the floor next to it at some point during the night and headed over towards the bathroom to find out what had happened.

His eyes were slowly adjusting to the light coming through the crack in the door, and when he briefly looked around the room, he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks for a moment, having figured out what was going on and cringing at the realisation that it was most definitely his fault.

There were a few drops of blood on the floor, some of it smeared, starting near the wall against which he had earlier thrown his framed old family picture and leading right towards the bathroom door. When Hunter now opened it slowly, he found Bobbi sitting on the closed toilet lit, wearing her full pyjama again, busy picking a few small shards of glass out of the soles of her bare feet. She briefly glanced up at him as she became aware of him standing in the doorway, but then she quickly focused back on her painful work, a frustrated expression on her face.

“A little warning next time your room’s booby-trapped would be nice,” Bobbi muttered and even though Hunter could see to his relief that there didn’t seem to be any deep cuts in her feet, he immediately went over to the bathroom cabinet to retrieve a bottle of disinfectant and a box of band-aids he put down on the ground next to the blond agent.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” the mercenary apologised as he leaned against the sink and watched Bobbi work, flinching every so often in sympathy as she pulled out another shard of glass. He was rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably, his regret about his own carelessness showing on his face all too clearly. “I guess I was a bit… upset earlier, before you showed up and I took that out on some innocent picture frame,” Hunter joked, trying to downplay his almost-breakdown before Bobbi had knocked on his door, effectively saving him from his demons. “I should have warned you about the glass, but honestly, I had completely forgotten about that.”

“You really forgot about this?“ Bobbi now asked in return, having abandoned her injured feet for a moment as she held up the old photograph of Hunter and his parents, that he hadn’t even realised had been lying next to her. Her voice and the look on her face were making it more than clear that she didn’t believe the mercenary’s light-heartedness about the subject, but before he could react to the picture in any way, the blond woman had already pulled her hand back and was taking a long look at the photo herself now, smiling fondly at the happy scene depicted in it.

“You look so nice and well-behaved in this picture, Hunter, I’m almost having trouble believing that that’s really you,” Bobbi said teasingly as she glanced up at her ex once again, but despite her words, Hunter could still see his own sadness reflected in her eyes, as they both knew what a difficult and painful subject his childhood in general, and his parents in particular were for him.

“Yeah, I was eight, so what can I say, I guess I was still pretty innocent. I didn’t hit my rebellious phase until I was probably like… nine or ten or something,” he replied mockingly, prompting an honest laugh from Bobbi in return.

“Now that’s something I _can_ believe,” she answered him, the teasing glint Hunter knew so well back in her eyes. “And obviously that phase is still going strong even after all those years,” she added, actually managing to elicit a small chuckle from the mercenary as well.

After this little exchange they both fell silent again for a long moment as Bobbi continued to study the picture in her hands, her expression completely serious again.

“I really would have liked to know them, to meet your mum and to actually have a chance to get to know your father better,” she admitted silently, her eyes never leaving the photograph.

“A badass SHIELD agent like you, I’m sure my mum would have loved you,” Hunter replied as he was looking at Bobbi with a fond expression. “And my dad, I think he was already pissed at me for actually divorcing a woman like you. He probably thought I was ridiculously lucky you ever said ‘yes’ in the first place,” he explained with a faint smile, silently wishing once again that he would have had more time with his father to set things right, that he wouldn’t have lost him so utterly without warning.

The mercenary was suddenly pulled out of his darker thoughts, though, as he realised that Bobbi was holding his old family picture out to him, the look in her eyes telling him that she had noticed him becoming more depressed again at the subject.

“You should really frame it again, Hunter. This looks like it was a pretty good moment, and going by everything you’ve told me, I don’t think you and your parents had too many of those. You probably should hold onto the ones you had.” Hunter took the photograph from her with a silent nod, swallowing hard as Bobbi’s words reminded him once more that the memories of his parents were now the only thing he had left of them and he suddenly had the urge to share at least one of those with the woman he had once asked to marry him.

"We went to a football match that day for my birthday. Arsenal vs. ManU, I think," he began as he sat down on the floor a small distance away from Bobbi, looking at the picture in his hands while the blond woman resumed patching herself up, even though she was clearly listening to his words carefully.

"I had only ever been in a stadium once before and when our team actually won that day, I was crazy excited," Hunter recalled, smiling at his younger self's enthusiasm. "After the match we all went to the park and Mum bought me a huge ice cream, so it was basically the best day a kid could possibly have with his parents. I didn't even care anymore that they had missed my actual birthday, I just loved spending time with them." At this point Hunter broke off in his story, taking a deep breath as he tried to focus on the positiv memory of his parents and not the countless negative ones, or, even worse, the pain over their loss.

Bobbi was watching her ex closely now and she realised with concern just how much he was clearly still struggling, not just with his father's death, but also with all the old wounds seeing him had opened up again, and she knew that she had to do something before the pain overwhelmed him once again.

“You know, I still remember that one soccer game you once dragged me to. It was kind of fun, I guess, but it probably would have been better if your team hadn’t lost." She could immediately see that her words were having the desired effect, but Bobbi still feigned ignorance as Hunter suddenly glared at her.

“What?” she asked, her expression completely innocent.

“It's called _'football'_ , not ‘ _soccer’_ , how many times do I have to explain that to you, Bobbi?“ Hunter asked incredulously as he stared at his ex-wife, the tone of his voice suddenly noticeably higher and sharper. Bobbi grinned as she remembered how he had once called this his 'speaking-voice when he was upset with an unreasonable person', and she knew that she had become just that in his eyes once again by not heeding the distinctions of European sports.

“Well, it is called 'soccer' here in the States, so you’ll just have to deal with me calling it that," Bobbi declared stubbornly, just as she was done with treating her injured feet and got back up, wincing slightly. For a moment she just stood there and looked down at Hunter, who was still sitting on the cold floor, but in those few seconds he could see her expression and her entire demeanour changing, as she sobered up once again, even though there was still a distinct trace of warmth in her voice as she spoke again.

"We're not going to let Hydra get away again this time, you know that, right?“ she asked, a determined look on her face. "They'll pay for what they did to your father and for all the other people they killed, I promise.”

As Hunter looked up at the blond agent, he wanted nothing more than to believe her, but he also knew that they were both well aware of the fact that Hydra was no enemy to be underestimated. But in the end, he still nodded, realising that Bobbi was trying to cheer him up above everything else, and that he really enjoyed these more light-hearted interactions between them.

“Yeah, I know,” he agreed, thinking that maybe his ex-wife really had been right, and being friends with her hadn’t been such a bad idea after all.

 

* * *

 

Bobbi had returned to her own bunk for the moment to get ready, and after Hunter had taken a brief shower himself, he was now on his way to the Playground’s kitchen, to make breakfast for the two of them. It still wasn’t even 6 o’clock, and the base was only coming to life around him very slowly, meaning that most of the corridors were still empty and Hunter hadn’t run into anybody from the team yet, much to his relief.

He was of course well aware that the others had been giving him his space yesterday, and that regardless of the fact that he had been hiding in Fitz’s workshop for several hours after his return from the mission, nobody except Bobbi had been coming to look for him. However, as he was going to return to his normal duties today, he knew that at least at first things would probably be rather awkward, as everyone was obviously aware of his loss, and would be treating him accordingly. So as he headed into the kitchen area and started the coffee machine, before taking cups and dishes for two people from the shelves, Hunter was already preparing himself for all the heartfelt condolences he was going to receive today, but then Agent May’s stern voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

“Hunter, with me, now!” The mercenary turned around in surprise, a look of complete bewilderment on his face as he stared at the dark haired woman, utterly speechless. He just stood like that for a few seconds, not showing any indication to actually move, finally prompting the agent to repeat her not so subtle request.

“I said ‘now’, Hunter,” she commanded once again, the sharp tone of her voice ultimately causing the Brit to get a move on and follow her down the corridor.

“But I was just going to make breakfast,” he pointed out in a rather weak attempt to convince May to let him off the hook from whatever she wanted him to do, but the agent just kept walking ahead of him, not even turning around as she replied.

“And you can get back to doing that in a few minutes, but you’ll have to take care of something first, because I’m definitely not going to deal with it.” Hunter merely kept watching the specialist’s back in confusion as he followed her through the base towards the hangar, where she was obviously headed. He had no idea what to make of any of this, and while the female agent was definitely the last person he would have expected to treat him with kid gloves, he hadn’t exactly seen this harsh tone coming, either.

As they entered the enormous hall, May started making her way towards a pile of boxes and crates that had obviously been unloaded there recently, and finally started to explain why she had brought Hunter down here.

“Coulson had a few agents look through your father’s house and while they didn’t find anything else that could help us with our mission, he did have some weapons and other items from his active days hidden away. They sent everything they found and some of his personal belongings over. This is yours now and obviously you can do with it what you want, but-” May began, only for Hunter to cut her off abruptly, a shaken expression on his face, as he had definitely not expected to have to deal with such concrete fallout of his father’s death this soon.

“Just… Just put everything in storage, alright? I’ll take a look at it, I promise, but not now. I… I can’t…” Hunter’s voice trailed off at this point, as he didn’t really know how to explain just how frightening the mere idea of going through his father’s things suddenly seemed, without appearing weak in front of the specialist. But there was no judgement in the look she was giving him now, just understanding and sympathy.

“I know. Don’t worry about your father’s belongings, Hunter, I’ll have everything stored away until you’re ready to deal with it, but that’s not why I brought you down here.”

“Then why-”, but before Hunter could even finish the sentence, May had gone over to the pile of boxes and picked up one that looked distinctly different to the others, with a grate covering the front and a number of air slits all over the upper part. As she put the box down in front of the mercenary, there was a soft, protesting noise coming from it, similar to a hiss, but more confused than aggressive.

“Oh, you’ve got to be joking, right?“ Hunter asked, glancing from the box at his feet to May and back again, only for the agent to shake her head decisively.

“No, it’s all yours. And you’re the one who has to explain this to Coulson,” she declared sternly, obviously more than eager to pass this part of the shipment off to Hunter. Sighing in defeat, the mercenary finally kneeled down in front of the small box and looked inside, only to be met with a small grey paw that reached out to him lazily.

“Oh, bloody hell.”

**To be continued…**


	21. A Disaster Waiting To Happen

“The answer is ‘no’.” The tone of Coulson’s voice was final, but Hunter wasn’t willing to accept this decision as he kept following the director around the kitchen area, much to the older man’s annoyance.

“But you didn’t even take a look at it!“ he argued, indicating the box standing on the large table in the centre of the room.

“It’s a cat, Hunter, I know what a cat looks like,” Coulson pointed out as he poured himself a cup of coffee, trying to ignore the unusually persistent mercenary, who seemed unwilling to let him have his breakfast in peace unless he got the permission to keep his father’s pet.

As he realised that he was getting himself worked up about this, Hunter sighed as he positioned himself in the director’s way once again, his voice a lot calmer as he spoke once more.

“Look, I know this isn’t ideal, but the cat’s here now and someone’s got to take care of it. My mum loved that lazy furball and it’s been keeping my dad company all these years since her death, I can’t just give it to an animal centre.” Even though he had never been a particularly big fan of cats in general, and he hadn’t spent nearly enough time at his parents’ house to ever form a connection to the grey tabby his mother had bought a while after her condition had forced her to leave SHIELD, Hunter’s words were completely heartfelt as he practically begged Coulson to allow him to keep it.

As the agent obviously realised that, too, his expression darkened visibly as he shook his head once again, even though slightly less decisive than before.

“I’m sorry, Hunter, but this is a top-secret facility with a lot of extremely valuable equipment, it’s hardly a place for a pet,” SHIELD’s director explained in a stern voice. “A fish-tank maybe, but definitely not a cat,” he added almost as an afterthought, before he walked around the mercenary and started heading towards the stairs to his office, but the younger man still wasn’t willing to give up.

“Wait! Just… just listen, alright?” Hunter had positioned himself on the other side of the table from Coulson, and had turned the box with the tabby slightly, so that the opening was facing right towards the director now.

“I know you’re worried about her disrupting any of our operations, but I promise, you won’t even know she’s there. Honestly, this is most likely the laziest cat you’ll ever see in your life,” the mercenary pointed out, shifting Coulson’s focus towards the admittedly extremely cute animal that was sleeping soundly in its cage. “Ninety percent of the time she’ll just be sleeping somewhere, so she won’t disturb anyone. And did I already mention the fact that her name is ‘Peggy’?”, Hunter asked in an innocuous tone, playing his final card to convince the older agent, as he knew how much he adored everything that was connected to SHIELD’s past.

This bit of information actually made the director pause for a moment as he took a closer look at the tabby. Personally, he always would have loved to own a pet, either a dog or a cat, but his job had never allowed him enough time to keep one, and right now it was becoming increasingly hard with every second to remain firm on the topic.

“Peggy, really?” Coulson repeated, the corners of his mouth twitching ever so slightly, before he schooled his expression once more, and shifted his attention back to Hunter, giving him a disapproving look.

“Yeah, you know, as in ‘Agent Carter’,” the mercenary explained, even though he was sure that that was hardly necessary.

“Thanks, I got that,” the director replied in a slightly irritated tone, before finally looking back down at the striped cat, which in this moment shifted a little in its sleep, rubbing its paws across its face in a rather adorable manner.

Hunter could almost see Coulson’s resolve weakening and when he ultimately sighed after a long moment, the mercenary knew that he had won this argument, even though he stopped himself from grinning until the agent had actually said it out loud.

“Alright, fine, the cat can stay, but only on probation. If I hear even the slightest complaint, she’s out”, Coulson finally announced resolutely in an effort to emphasise his authority, but as he looked at the sleeping pet once more, he knew that he had just been overruled by the small furry animal. When he made his way towards his office, though, he couldn’t help but wonder, what the real Peggy Carter would have thought about the idea that a cat with her name was now living in her old base.

 

* * *

 

Much to Hunter’s relief, whoever had sent his father’s cat along with his other belongings, had at least had enough foresight to also include some basic items he was going to need as a new pet owner, like a few cans of food and a bag of kitty litter, which he was now retrieving from the hangar to make sure that Peggy was all set up in her new home before Coulson had the opportunity to change his mind.

As he was making his way back into the main part of the base, though, he almost ran into a towering figure, just as he was passing around a corner. Startled, Hunter backed up a bit, only then realising that he was standing right in front of Mack now, whom he hadn’t seen since yesterday’s briefing with the whole team. The look on the larger man’s face was telling him all too clearly, though, that he of course knew about the details of his and Bobbi’s trip to England, and the terrible loss he had suffered.

“Hunter,” Mack began, obviously similarly surprised to find his friend coming out of the hangar this early in the day.

“Morning, mate!“ the mercenary greeted him cheerfully. “Listen, I know yesterday’s mission wasn’t supposed to include any fighting, and you’re probably pissed about the condition in which we brought back the Quinjet, but don’t be too hard on Trip, alright? He’s a good pilot, it was just that there wasn’t really enough space for him to land. But if he hadn’t brought the jet down when he did, Bob and I would be dead, so do me a favour and cut him some slack, will you?“ the mercenary requested, acting like the mission in England had been just an ordinary day working for SHIELD.

“Yeah, sure,” Mack replied with a confused nod, not really having expected his friend to start the conversation off like this. But in contrast to him, he wasn’t about to pretend like nothing had happened. “Hunter, we didn’t have a chance to talk yet, since you came back, I mean after what happened to your father, and I just wanted you to know how terribly sorry I am. I know you two had a lot of issues, and that you hadn’t talked to him in a while, but he was still your family, and losing family always hurts the worst, no matter what. So if you need anything, don’t forget that I’m here, and that I got your back, okay?”

“Yeah, don’t worry, I won’t,” Hunter replied, grateful for his friend’s support, but at the same time, a part of him hated the pitying look he was giving him. The same look that he knew many of the agents around him were giving him at the moment, and that were serving as a constant reminder of what had happened everywhere he went.

“Good,” Mack agreed, but then his attention was suddenly caught by something else, and the compassion was gone from his voice instantly as he continued in a confused tone. “Wait a second, is that kitty litter? Why are you carrying kitty litter… and cat food?” he asked incredulously as he looked down at the items the mercenary was holding in his arms. “Hunter, please don’t tell me you brought a cat back to the base,” the mechanic implored his friend, only for the Brit to shrug helplessly as he started walking deeper into the base again.

“It wasn’t my idea, alright, and I didn’t bring her along, but yeah, Coulson had a few agents look through my father’s place, and among some other stuff, they also sent his cat here, so now I’m going to have to look after it.”

“And Coulson’s okay with that?” Mack asked sceptically, his brow furrowed as he walked next to the mercenary.

“The word ‘okay’ is maybe a little strong here, but at least he agreed to give her a probation period, so I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Huh,” the tall mechanic simply muttered in reply, a part of him honestly impressed that Hunter had actually managed to convince the director to allow a pet inside his top secret base.

“Plus, you know Bobbi loves cats, so I can always ask her to talk to Coulson if Peggy scratches one of his old collectables or something,” the mercenary added, already liking the idea of sending his ex to talk to the director in his stead, as she always seemed to get along with him so much better than he did.

“‘Peggy’, huh?“ Mack repeated the name, grinning at Hunter.

“Yeah, I always used to think that that was just some random name my mum liked, but ever since I’ve been working for SHIELD, I’ve picked up a few things about its grand history – you know, all those decades that SHIELD was being infiltrated by Hydra, and nobody noticed – and now I finally understand why she chose to name her cat ‘Peggy’.”

“At least now we already know that Simmons is going to love it, too,” Mack pointed out, prompting a small chuckle from Hunter.

“Yeah, probably,” he agreed as they had almost reached the central room of the base, where the kitchen was located. “So, you didn’t have breakfast yet, right?” the mercenary asked, indicating for Mack to keep following him. “I was just going to eat with Bobbi, why don’t you come along? I’ll also introduce you to Peggy,” he offered with a slight grin, but his good mood was hampered a little as he noticed the clearly disapproving expression on his friend’s face.

“So… you and Bobbi are having breakfast together. Do you really think that that is a good idea? Especially now?” Mack asked in a worried tone, looking at the Brit with obvious concern. But even though Hunter knew well enough what his friend was alluding to, he wasn’t exactly in the mood to have this discussion right now, and so he replied accordingly.

“What’s wrong with having breakfast? Haven’t you heard, it’s the most important meal of the day,” he pointed out cheekily, clearly frustrating his taller friend, who sighed heavily before answering.

“I know this is a hard time for you, Hunter, and it’s not like I haven’t been expecting this to happen sooner or later, what with you two working so closely together again, but you and Bobbi _together_ , you know that that is a disaster waiting to happen, right?“ Mack asked, a cautionary tone in his voice. “You’re two of my best friends, and I love you both, but I’ve seen you getting destroyed by this relationship too many times already to want to watch it happen all over again. Especially now, when you’re already having such a horrible loss to deal with.”

Hunter had stopped walking now and was shaking his head slightly as he looked up at the mechanic in silence for a moment, not really knowing what to say. A part of him knew of course that Mack was just concerned about him and was looking out for him like the good friend he was, but he also couldn’t help but feel angry at him for putting his nose into something that had nothing to do with him and that was also the only part of the mercenary’s life at the moment, that didn’t feel like it was spiralling out of control.

“Listen, mate, you and I have been friends for a very long time and you know that Bobbi and I love you, too, but whatever she and I do is none of your bloody business, alright? We’re both all grown up, so I think we can decide for ourselves what kind of relationship we want to have,” Hunter replied in an annoyed tone, causing Mack to lift his hands slightly, obviously not wanting to upset his friend.

“I’m just saying, there is a reason why you two haven’t worked out yet, no matter how many times you’ve tried to start over so far, so maybe it would be better if you start learning from the past, instead of just repeating it again and again.” This time it was Hunter’s turn to sigh heavily as he shook his head once again, his frustration showing.

“Yeah, well, you don’t even have to say it, okay? Because while this is still none of your business, you’ll probably be happy to know that Bobbi and I aren’t together. We’re just friends, that’s it.”

“Yeah, right,” Mack replied sarcastically, causing Hunter to roll his eyes in response.

“I’m being serious here, alright?“ he argued, even though he couldn’t really blame the tall agent for not believing him, since the whole concept of him and his ex-wife being nothing but friends still seemed rather outlandish to him as well.

“So you and Bobbi, the ‘pure evil hell beast’, are friends now. Really?”

“ _Really_ ,” Hunter replied, the sincerity in his voice obviously finally convincing Mack that he was telling the truth.

“Alright, good. And whose idea was that?”, the mechanic wondered, crossing his arms in front of his chest, one eyebrow arched slightly as he looked at his shorter friend.

At this point, Hunter started walking towards the kitchen again, briefly glancing over at Mack, who was following him, as he replied in an evasive tone.

“Well, it was pretty much a mutual decision and we both-”, he began, only for Mack to cut him off immediately, his eyebrow now raised even further in an extremely sceptical expression.

“It was Bobbi’s idea, wasn’t it?“ he asked, knowing both of his friends well enough to know that this did not sound like something that Hunter would have come up with.

“Alright, yeah, it was,” the mercenary admitted grudgingly as they made their way into the base’s common room, “but the more I think about it, the more I think she was probably right. You know Bob and I can make a good team, a great one even. If it hadn’t been for her, I would have been killed back at my dad’s house yesterday. She pulled me out of that mess, and she’s sort of been keeping me going ever since, but knowing the two of us, it would probably just be a matter of time until we start scratching each other’s eyes out again, if we were to get right back together now.”

Hunter sighed heavily once again as he set the bag of litter and the cans of cat food down on the large table, before he went over to the shelf to pick up a bowl and a can opener. His words were obviously honest and heartfelt, but the sadness in his eyes wasn’t lost on Mack, and this time it had nothing to do with his father’s death.

“You still love her, don’t you?“ the mechanic asked in a sympathetic tone, knowing full well that Hunter’s relationship with his ex-wife was simultaneously the one thing in this life that could bring him the most happiness, but could also cause him the most despair.

“Well, she’s the _one_. Nothing really I could do about that,” the mercenary replied, glad that he was facing away from Mack right now, as he knew that he was failing miserably at keeping the intensity of his feelings for Bobbi from showing in his expression. But, as he quickly reminded himself, even though his relationship with his ex was currently not evolving in the way he had briefly expected it to, when they had been sleeping with each other last night, they were actually in a pretty good place at the moment, and Hunter could barely remember the last time they had been getting along this well with each other.

So when the blond agent joined them not two minutes later, just as the mercenary had released his new pet from its box, and had put down a bowl of food for it, the atmosphere between them wasn’t awkward or uncomfortable as it had been occasionally in the past, after they had had relapse sex the night before, but instead it turned out to be surprisingly light-hearted and amicably. And while the three of them sat down to eat breakfast together, Hunter noticed that there was no longer any sign of disapproval on Mack’s face as the mechanic was watching his two friends with a mixture of pleasant surprise and hopefulness, which, in Hunter’s eyes, was probably the most positive sign their relationship had received in ages.

 

* * *

 

Hunter, Bobbi and Mack hadn’t been sitting around the large table for very long, when Skye suddenly entered the room with long strides, carrying a large and rather expensive looking laptop under her arm, obviously on her way towards the stairs leading to Coulson’s office. As she noticed the three of them, though, she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes lingering on Hunter. The young woman had obviously not expected to run into him here this early in the morning, and was now at a complete loss for words on how to express her condolences in light of his father's death.

She did manage to wish them all a good morning, but before she had the chance to say anything else, a movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, causing her to turn her head in that direction, clearly startled.

“What the hell was that?” Skye asked as she barely managed to make out a small grey shadow darting behind the couch and out of sight. “Was… was that a _cat_?”

Hunter chuckled briefly at the incredulous tone of the young agent’s voice as he glanced over to where the furry animal had vanished.

“Yes, it was. Skye, meet Peggy. Peggy, this is Skye,” he introduced the two, even though the pet in question was still hiding behind the couch and showed no inclination to come out of there anytime soon. “And before you ask, yes, Coulson did sign off on her being here,” he finished with a lopsided grin, but then his expression became serious again once he took a closer look at the short brunette and finally fully realised where she had been headed.

The mercenary took one more large gulp from his coffee, before quickly getting to his feet and approaching the young woman.

“You found a new lead on Hydra, didn’t you?” he asked, abruptly changing the subject as he stepped between her and the stairs. After they had exchanged a brief glance, Bobbi and Mack got up from their seats now as well, intent on finding out what Skye had discovered.

"Well, I don't know how much of a lead this is going to be, but I did find something,” the hacker replied. “I was just going upstairs to brief Coulson anyway, so I guess you guys might as well just come along," she offered, already having realised that there wouldn't be an easy way to stop Hunter from accompanying her to see the director anyway, as she knew how personal this mission was to him now after what had happened to his father.

Obviously the mercenary really didn't have to be asked twice, as he was already halfway up the stairs, before he glanced back at Skye, an impatient look on his face.

"Alright. You coming, love?"

**To be continued…**


	22. Ghost Stories

Hunter watched as Skye set up the laptop she had brought with her on Coulson's desk, glad that he had been at the right place at the right time for once, so he was actually one of the first to get an update on their mission and wouldn’t feel completely out of the loop anymore, like he had had been feeling ever since his return to the base yesterday. When Skye was finally done with her preparations, she turned to face the director and began telling him what she had found out so far, while Hunter, Bobbi and Mack were listening closely.

“So, when you asked me to look into the intel Talbot's people had on those Hydra bases and safe houses they attacked, and figure out who exactly lured them into a trap there, I started with focusing on the source of that information. As it turned out, all four locations were part of a series of data transfers over one of Hydra’s communication channels that was monitored by the U.S. military intelligence,” the young agent explained, but as none of the others had any kind of deeper knowledge of computer science, neither of them realised the significance of her words at first, until she elaborated further.

“I know, that doesn’t sound very suspicious at first,” Skye admitted, before continuing resolutely, “but I’ve tried several times to get a look into Hydra’s communications, and believe me, their security is as tight as it gets. Finding one of the frequencies they’re using isn’t really the problem, it’s getting through the walls of encryption they put on their data, and even with military-grade tech, I don’t see how anyone did it, unless the encryption on these particular transfers was seriously below Hydra’s usual standards.”

Sometimes there were moments when Hunter hated the fact that he had absolutely zero technical skills, especially considering the fact what a brilliant scientist his father had been, and he was silently grateful to Skye for making an effort to explain her results so even he could understand them. He definitely didn’t like what he was hearing, however, and even though he clearly wasn’t the only one who felt this way, going by the way Coulson’s brow was furrowing in concern at this bit of information, he was ultimately the one who spoke up first.

“So what, are you saying that Hydra leaked that intel on purpose, and nobody got suspicious? I thought these guys are supposed to be military _intelligence_?”, the mercenary asked, angry that such an obvious oversight might have led to the deaths of dozens of soldiers. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest now while he was leaning against the conference table in the middle of the director’s office, staring at Skye expectantly.

“Yes, I know,” the hacker replied quickly. “But, while I was really confused at first, too, why anyone would trust the data from these barely secured transfers, it turned out that Talbot’s guys had a really good reason for that. Because this wasn’t the first time the military was able to access data that was sent over that particular channel,” Skye remarked, now facing Hunter directly.

“There had actually been several transmissions over the course of a couple of months, all on the same channel, all considerably weaker encoded than Hydra’s usual communications, that included one hundred percent legitimate intel. I’ve looked into all those cases, and every single time an operation that could have ended with a really high body count was prevented and several of Hydra’s operatives were arrested or even killed in the process. So from the looks of it, there really was a mole inside the organisation, and the military had no reason not to trust the intel he provided,” the dark haired agent explained, and Hunter nodded briefly in response and actually sighed softly, relieved that all those soldiers had at least not lost their lives due to the stupidity of their superiors. But while the others seemed to be following Skye’s reasoning as well, Bobbi looked at her sceptically, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

“Or, Hydra could have leaked all that information on purpose to establish a trusted source for the military, so that, when the time was right, they could easily feed them false intel and lure them into a trap like they did two nights ago,” she pointed out, obviously knowing how ruthless the organisation could be.

Skye nodded understandingly, even though Hunter could tell that she didn’t completely agree with Bobbi on this, and he had to suppress a small impressed grin at the realisation that the considerably shorter woman was actually willing to counter his ex-wife.

“Well, of course I wouldn’t put it past Hydra to throw their own people under the bus to get an advantage, even though that really would have been a very high price they had been willing to pay for that in this case, but actually, just this once, I don’t believe that they planned any of this. They simply realised that someone was giving up their operations, and they used that same method to set up a trap for Talbot’s men and any other military units involved, before they killed the person who was betraying them in the first place.”

“Andrews,” Coulson now sighed understandingly, and as Bobbi had told him earlier about what had happened to the dead young man with the awfully blond hair down in the lab, Hunter put two and two together as well, realising what the director was getting at.

“He was Talbot’s source, wasn’t he?“ Coulson asked, prompting a short nod from Skye, and now Hunter finally understood why Hydra had killed an entire diner full of people just to get to one man. Not that he had ever really expected them to shy away from a massacre like this, but so far the attack had seemed to be lacking the proper motivation.

“Yes, I think so,” Skye replied. “In fact, when I analysed the laptop that had been found with his body, it turned out that it was the source of all those badly encrypted data transfers. I still think that whoever killed Andrews left the laptop there for us to find, but it definitely was his. While most of the hard drive had been wiped, with no chance to recover any of the data, there were still a few of his personal files on there and I got access to the system with his fingerprint.” The young woman fell silent for a brief moment, and there was a regretful look on her face as she continued.

“Ryan Andrews might have started out as a loyal member of Hydra, but at some point he must have come to his senses and just couldn’t stand by any longer as his employers kept killing innocent people. So he started informing the military about Hydra’s more gruesome operations, but in the end they discovered what he was doing and used the fact that he was a trusted source by then to set up a trap for the same people he was trying to warn. He must have wanted to go into hiding once he realised he had been made, but they found him and used him to send one last message."

"Stand up against Hydra and you will regret it,” Bobbi finished Skye’s line of thought, causing the young hacker to briefly nod in agreement.

"That seems to be pretty much it, yes," she confirmed with a small sigh, before she stepped over to the laptop and began typing on it for a few moments. “But whoever left this behind to be found, actually seemed to have signed their work this time.”

Skye hit a few more buttons on the keyboard, until a datasheet suddenly appeared on the screen, filled with transportation logs, coordinates and countless supply numbers, a large Hydra emblem prominently visible in the upper corner of the document.

“This is one of the documents that led Talbot’s people to their Hydra targets. It’s a shipping list, which also includes the coordinates to one of their safe houses, but this isn’t the same document the military intercepted. When I worked on the laptop, I noticed that this one file had been updated _after_ the assault teams had been killed and when I compared it with the original, I found this embedded deep in the code,” she announced as she hit one more button, and a set of dark red Roman numerals appeared across the Hydra symbol.

Hunter had begun to move closer to Skye once she had started working on the laptop, to get a closer look at what she was doing, and was standing right next to her now, frowning slightly as he looked down at the screen.

“‘31’,” he read the number out loud, “That’s it? What’s that supposed to mean?“ he asked in confusion as he looked from the screen over to the hacker.

“I don’t know, but it’s literally the only difference between this file and the one Talbot’s people had, so it has to mean _something,_ right?”, the young woman replied, shrugging.

“It does. It means that this whole situation might get even uglier, because it looks like we’re dealing with a group of people here that even most of Hydra’s own operatives are afraid of,” Bobbi suddenly spoke up, causing Hunter and the rest of the group to turn away from the laptop and focus their attention on her instead. But before her ex-husband or any of the others could ask how she knew this, Coulson addressed the specialist first, his voice tense.

"Unit 31. So they actually do still exist?"

Hunter began to feel increasingly irritated as he looked from Bobbi, who was nodding in reply, to the director and back again, hating to be kept out of the loop like this. He had the impression that this was some kind of SHIELD thing, that because of the long history between the two organisations, a ‘proper’ SHIELD agent would know what the two were talking about, and despite the fact that neither Skye nor Mack seemed to know anything more than he did, Hunter felt as if he was the only one trailing behind once again.

"Alright, so if we could maybe back this up just a step for those of us who’ve skipped the Hydra history lesson? What the bloody hell is 'Unit 31'?“ he asked exasperatedly, looking from his ex-wife to Coulson and back again.

The blond agent shot the director a quick glance, who nodded briefly in return, indicating for her to go on and answer Hunter's question.

"Unit 31 is a division of Hydra Red Skull himself created back in the forties and, as I found out while I was undercover, they're still active today, even though they usually like to stay in the background and operate independently from the other divisions. They're basically the Gestapo, the secret police, of Hydra. They search out traitors within the organisation and deal with them – ruthlessly – and occasionally they’ve even been known to take on outside enemies as well.”

Hunter just stared at his ex for a moment after she had finished her explanation, needing a moment to process her words. The rest of the room was silent as well, as none of the others, except from Coulson, had ever even heard about this group and they were now sufficiently affected by the idea of having to face an enemy that even most of Hydra’s own operatives considered dangerous enough to be afraid of.

In the end it was the director himself, who spoke up first, needing to know what else Bobbi had learned during her undercover mission.

“Could you find out any more details about the unit? Who’s in charge, their resources, manpower?“ he wondered, but the agent shook her head negative.

“No, as I said, Unit 31 acts independently from all of Hydra’s other operations and aside from probably a few higher-ups like Whitehall, nobody really seems to know anything concrete about them. I couldn’t even find out the name of the guy leading the Unit – they just call him the Bloodhound – and the few things anyone on the lower levels did know about him and his operation sounded more like ghost stories than actual intel. But if even half of the rumours I’ve heard are true, then these recent attacks are right up their alley,” the agent finished her explanation, obviously disconcerted by the idea that this particular part of Hydra had come out into the open now.

“And you’re sure this is them?“ Hunter now asked, finally having composed himself again. He had one eyebrow raised sceptically as he looked at Bobbi, waiting for her to confirm their next target. “I mean, I know Hydra has this habit of putting their symbol on everything – kind of like a certain other organisation I know,” he added with the side glance at Coulson, “but do you really think they would single out their unit like this, by practically signing their kills?”

It wasn't so much that Hunter doubted Bobbi's judgment, but if these really were the people responsible for not only killing dozens of soldiers, several members of the SAS included, but for his father's death as well, he would have preferred to have more to go on than just a symbol on a dead guy's laptop. He wanted to be _sure_ , he had to be, because he knew that once he was focused on taking this unit down, there would be nothing he wouldn’t be willing to do to stop them.

“If there is one thing I learned during my time with Hydra, it’s that there is pretty much nothing they’re not capable of. The military thought they were going to land a massive strike against them, and instead they lost almost 40 of their own people,” Bobbi pointed out. “I’m sure the Bloodhound was dying to officially take credit for that. Besides, nobody inside Hydra would ever use his unit's emblem if he wasn't behind all this," she replied, knowing that, going by his reputation, even other high ranking members of Hydra would know better than to get on the man's bad side.

“Alright, so now we know which group inside Hydra is behind the attacks, but the question is, how are we going to find them?”, Mack wondered, looking from Bobbi to Coulson and the others. Hunter nodded in agreement, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

“Mack’s right. We need to know where this unit has their base, but so far it doesn’t look like we even have a clue where to start looking for them. I know that we have a lot more to go on now than we did before Skye found this,” he admitted, giving the young agent an appreciative nod, “but without any more concrete intel, this isn’t exactly a breakthrough in the case, is it?“ the mercenary asked, becoming increasingly frustrated at the realisation that even now, when they finally knew who they were up against, he still wasn’t any closer to bringing down the person who had ordered his father’s death and who was using the poison he had created to murder innocent people.

“I wish I could say that my contacts inside Hydra could be of any use to us now,” Bobbi answered her ex-husband, “but aside from the fact that with my cover being blown for good, I obviously can’t just reach out to any of them anymore, I honestly doubt that they would even know anything. As I said, everyone inside Hydra has heard of Unit 31 and prays that they’ll never get into their crosshairs, but that’s generally as far as their knowledge goes. So unless we can get our hands on a higher-up like Whitehall or maybe at least Bakshi, and actually get them to talk, I doubt that we’ll have any luck with this approach.”

Coulson sighed in disappointment at this, as the intel Bobbi had brought back from her undercover mission had already proven to be extremely helpful several times before. This time it was Skye, though, who came up with a possible solution to their problem instead.

“Well, we still have the information Talbot gave to us in exchange for our help with this operation,” the hacker suddenly reminded the others as she picked up the tablet that had been lying on Coulson’s desk so far. “We all know how hard the military and the government came down on SHIELD after what happened at the Triskelion, but while Hydra obviously grew back enough heads after that to keep going, they did lose many of their operatives and a lot of their data, too. Talbot sent us everything the military has on Hydra yesterday and I’ve already put the geek squat on it, but until now they didn’t have anything concrete to search for. They just started to go through all that information and see if they find anything useful, but maybe there’s actually some clue in there that could help us find Unit 31. We just didn’t know what to look for so far.”

This was one of the rare moments when Hunter was actually glad about his lack of computer skills, because this way nobody would ever come up with the idea of tasking him with sitting in front of a monitor for hours to analyse a bunch of boring data. That fact aside, though, he did actually like Skye’s suggestion and it obviously immediately found the approval of both Coulson and the rest of the team as well, as the director nodded quickly in agreement.

“Good idea, I want you to start looking into that right away, you and the rest of our analyst team,” he replied, using the official name of SHIELD's still rather small computer science division. “Use all the resources we have on this and I want to hear about it the second you find something, alright?”, he told her, and as if in answer to his request, a soft beeping noise could suddenly be heard, causing a surprised expression to form on Skye’s face.

“Wow, okay that wasn’t me. I mean, I’m fast, but I’m not _that_ fast,” she admitted, prompting a soft chuckle from Coulson.

“I know. It means I’m receiving a call,” he explained, obviously having recognised the sound immediately.

“Oh, alright.” Skye nodded briefly in return, and then focused on the tablet in her hands, that was linked to all of the base’s systems, for a moment, before she answered the director, her eyebrows rising in astonishment.

“You remember how you had me set up that untraceable channel, now that we’re at least on speaking terms with most of the government again?” she asked, and Hunter actually rolled his eyes in response, as he knew that Skye had to be well aware of the fact that Coulson would not have forgotten about something like this and accordingly she didn’t even wait for him to reply anything.

“It’s Talbot,” the hacker finally declared reluctantly, obviously still not entirely used to working with the same men, who had been trying to arrest all of them until only a few weeks ago. And as he still vividly remembered his little helicopter ride with the man, Hunter couldn’t really blame her, either. “Should I put him on?“ Skye finally asked, glancing at the large screen on the wall, prompting a short nod from Coulson.

“Yes, let’s find out what he has to say.”

“Alright.” Skye nodded and hit a few more buttons on the tablet, until the general’s face appeared on the large screen on the wall opposite from the director’s desk. He only took a brief glance across the room, but even though Hunter was sure that Talbot had noted his presence, he got right down to business without further ado, his mood obviously even worse than usual.

“Coulson, the next time you piss off Hydra, be so good and give them your contact number, too, alright, because I really don’t enjoy having to play the errand boy for you.”

“What are you talking about?”, the director asked, obviously puzzled. Hunter and the rest of the team were standing next to him now while they were looking up at the general as well, and he and Bobbi exchanged a brief glance, both of them clearly worried about what their enemies had done this time. When Talbot continued to explain the reason for his call, it was doing nothing to alleviate their concerns.

“A few minutes ago, we received a file over the same communication channel the bastards used to set up my men, a list of names, no encryption, with the specific request to pass it on to you. Coulson, there are people on that list who work for the government, people who work for _me_ , and while so far we’ve only managed to locate a few of them, each one of those we did find is dead. Poisoned in their sleep, shot in their car, you get the drift; Hydra doesn’t really do subtlety.”

Thinking back to the shot that had killed his father yesterday and the full assault team that had come after him and Bobbi in the middle of a residential area, Hunter couldn’t help but feel that this was the understatement of the year as he looked up at the general disbelievingly, actually feeling a morbid sense of humour at the situation.

“Show me the list”, Coulson ordered immediately, his level of apprehension in his voice rising.

“I just sent it to you,” Talbot replied, causing Skye to focus back on her tablet and tap on it for a few more seconds, until the list of names appeared on the large screen next to the image of the general.

As Coulson’s eyes flew over the names in front of him, he was clearly doing his best not to show any reaction, but he couldn’t quite hide the clenching of his jaw or the way all the colour seemed to be draining from his face.

“They’re your people, aren’t they?” Talbot asked as he was watching the director of SHIELD closely. At these words, Hunter looked over at Coulson, too, a dark sense of foreboding rolling over him at the idea that all these – he did a quick count of the names – fifteen people were working for SHIELD, too, and were probably all dead now, because of that.

“You know I can’t comment on that,” the director merely replied, shrugging helplessly as he focused back on the general. He didn’t even seem to notice the frustrated sound Hunter made as he quickly continued. “But whatever reason Hydra has to want these people dead, we have to stop them before it’s too late. I’m putting my team on this right now, and if anyone on this list is still alive, we’ll find them and we’ll protect them,” he declared, a tense expression on his face.

“Yeah, but Coulson, don’t forget that we’re working together on this one,” Talbot pointed out resolutely. “We agreed to share intel, so I wanna know what you found on that laptop I gave your agent, and should we find any of Hydra’s targets that are actually still breathing, I’m going to send my men in alongside yours. Understood?”

Coulson seemed to ponder Talbot’s offer, or rather announcement, for a moment, his arms crossed in front of his chest, ignoring, or maybe not even noticing the incredulous look Hunter was giving him right now. The mercenary knew of course that the director had more than enough reason not to trust the general unconditionally, but he still couldn’t understand how he could hesitate to accept his offer at this moment, because as far as Hunter was concerned, it wasn’t exactly like they could afford to be picky about their allies.

But as Coulson obviously realised that now, too, he finally nodded in reply.

“Understood.”

**To be continued…**


	23. Thirty Seconds

There was always this rush of adrenaline before a mission. Once he went out into the field and had his boots on the ground, he was calm and collected, precise and lethal if he had to be and, recent exceptions aside, there was almost nothing that could make him lose focus on an objective. In moments like right now, though, as he was waiting for the call to move out, while he and the field team were in the hangar, picking out weapons and gear that Mack had provided, Hunter could feel his heart thumping in his chest, his breathing going just a little bit faster and all of his muscles tensing up in anticipation. He had this under control of course, and nobody ever noticed – he wasn’t a bloody rookie anymore after all – but the mercenary still checked both his side arm and the automatic assault rifle he was carrying for what must have been the third time now, to make sure that he was fully prepared and ready to go once Skye and those other computer nerds she was working with right now came through with the intel they needed.

After Coulson had agreed to work alongside Talbot and his people for this mission, the director had quickly brought the general up to speed on who exactly it was they were dealing with, before telling Skye to send everything she had found out so far over to the military. As part of their new cooperation, she had also begun to coordinate the search for the people on Hydra’s list with Talbot’s team, but so far everyone on it had turned out to be dead already.

The brief conversation that had taken place in Coulson’s office once the connection to the general had been closed, still echoed in Hunter’s mind as he took a deep breath, trying to brace himself for what he knew would be a tough mission.

 _“Was Talbot right, are those all SHIELD agents on that list?”_ Skye had asked, a shocked and bewildered look on her face.

 _“No, they’re not,”_ had been Coulson’s reply, but Hunter had immediately known that that had been just a half-truth. He hadn’t even had to call the director out on this one, though, as for once he had admitted the whole truth on his own. _“They’re some of my contacts and I've been working with at least half of these people for years now. They’re good people, willing to take a risk to help SHIELD, but they have no training, they cannot protect themselves against Hydra.”_

There had been an expression on Coulson’s face that Hunter didn’t get to see very often from the man he usually felt was too aloof, too detached from what his team was going through on the ground; regret and even guilt at the knowledge that he had been the one who had put these people on Hydra’s hit list by recruiting them as informants for SHIELD in the first place.

 _“Then we’ll have to do that instead,”_ Bobbi had replied, and even though they had all been well aware of the fact that they might already be too late to save even a single one of Coulson’s contacts, there had been a fond smile on Hunter's lips as he had looked over at the blond agent, admiring how optimistic and determined she could be under the circumstances.

“Are you going to be alright out there?” the same voice asked softly now, pulling the mercenary back to the present as Bobbi walked over to him and leaned with her back against the table next to him, completely ignoring the stack of weapons lying on it. Hunter glanced over at her briefly, noting that she had changed into her tactical outfit, which was always quite a sight, as he had to admit, but right now he had other things on his mind than appreciating his ex-wife’s formfitting clothes.

“Don’t, okay?” he replied curtly, glad that they were standing a small distance away from the others in the hangar, so they wouldn’t hear their conversation. Bobbi’s eyebrows rose slightly, as she had clearly not expected this rather harsh reply, but Hunter, who was leaning heavily on the table with his hands now, didn’t give her the chance to say anything in return as he continued quickly.

“Look, I’m not trying to push you away again, I’m really not, and I appreciate that you’re looking out for me, Bob, but we can’t go out into the field together with you been worried about me. You’ll be distracted and knowing that, I’ll be distracted, and then we’ll both end up dead.” The blond agent actually grinned slightly at this simple, yet surprisingly convincing logic as she reached out and laid her hand on top of Hunter’s, her fingers wrapping around his wrist gently.

“Okay, fine, so you actually got a point there, I’ll give you that, but the thing is, we’re not out in the field yet. I promise I’ll stop worrying once we get on the plane, but right now I just want you to tell me that you’ll be okay, that’s not too much to ask, is it?” Bobbi replied, a faint glint in her eyes as she watched her ex-husband closely.

Hunter hesitated a second before answering his ex as he looked down to where their hands were still touching, knowing that the way he was standing, none of the others could see the physical contact. A part of him actually contemplated teasing her about the fact that the rest of his friends generally showed more respect for his personal space, and weren’t usually touching him like this, but in light of her honest concerned for him, he couldn’t quite bring himself to do that.

“I’ll be fine, alright? I swear,” he finally answered, looking Bobbi in the eye. “As I told Coulson yesterday, I’m ready to go back out there. I’ll be a complete professional, and if Hydra wants to tangle with us, it’s gonna be their funeral, not ours.”

Bobbi held his gaze for a long moment, and Hunter felt as if she was trying to look straight into his soul, but in the end she nodded and let go of his hand, even if somewhat reluctantly.

“Good, that’s what I wanted to hear,” she replied light-heartedly, and the mercenary instantly knew that the intimate moment between them was over, as her voice had become considerably louder again and more distant as well. Bobbi gave him one more smile, before turning her back on her ex and walking over to May, Mack and Trip, who were standing together, discussing what weapons to take on the mission.

Hunter looked after her for a moment, slightly perplexed by her quick mood change, but he didn’t have long to dwell on that, as a few moments later Coulson entered the hangar, followed by Skye, Simmons and even Fitz, though the latter was trailing behind a little, as if he had somehow found himself in this situation by accident and wasn’t actually supposed to be here.

"Three names, that's it," the director began addressing his team immediately as they gathered around him, not wanting to waste even another second. "Somehow Hydra has managed to obtain the identities of fifteen of my personal informants, and so far, they’ve already killed twelve of them. With the assistance of General Talbot’s men, it’s our job now to protect the remaining three," he explained, looking at the assembled agents determinedly, before he focused briefly on the tablet he was carrying and the three files displayed on it.

"May, your target is Allison Williams. She's a secretary in the pentagon, who's been keeping me up-to-date on certain military developments. She's on vacation visiting family at the moment, that's why she was harder to track down, but hopefully not just for us, but for Hydra as well." May nodded in acknowledgment, prompting Coulson to continue with the assignments.

"Bobbi and Hunter, you're going to protect Alexander Wu. He's working at Berkeley’s political science department and right now he's keeping a low profile on campus while he's waiting for his extraction.”

“Is he one of the professors there?” Bobbi asked in return, trying to get a better understanding of their target.

“No, he’s a research assistant, but you’d be surprised how much insight into daily politics you can get from that position,” he explained, before moving on to the last name on the list.

"Skye, you and Trip will look after Amber, real name Nina Kuralenkow. She's a high-society escort, and lets just say, while it's definitely not the only pleasant thing about her company, people _do_ love talking to her, so she’s always providing me with a wide variety of intel.”

“Oy, how come those two get to babysit the escort?” Hunter asked, earning himself a smack against the arm from Bobbi and a wide grin from Trip.

“I think you actually just answered your own question, Hunter,” Coulson merely replied, a stern expression on his face, as he was clearly not in the mood to deal with the mercenary’s usual lack of tact. Then he quickly turned his attention towards Agent May, cutting off any further remarks Hunter might have wanted to make.

“May, you’ll take the Bus and drop off Skye and Trip on the way, as your targets aren’t very far apart. Bobbi, you and Hunter use the jet. As you all know, we’ll be cooperating with General Talbot during this operation, so you’ll make contact with his men on the ground as soon as you land. But even though I’ve agree to work together with the military in this case, you’ll be the only ones knowing your targets’ exact location and it will be your first and only priority to get them out of there and to a safe location. Talbot doesn’t know yet what kind of connection the people on Hydra’s list have to SHIELD, but he isn’t stupid, and while he definitely doesn’t want any more dead bodies, he will most likely be looking for a chance to interrogate your targets, so do not, I repeat, do _not_ let them out of your sight for even a second and don’t hand them over to the military. Talbot’s men are there to help, and we all appreciate that, but this is a SHIELD operation, don’t let them make you forget that.”

The director fell silent for a moment after these words as he looked at the five agents in front of him, and somehow Hunter felt as if he was actually hesitating to make the call and send them out into the field. The mercenary quickly told himself that that was probably just his imagination, and that this operation was nothing they couldn’t handle, but as Coulson suddenly turned towards Agent Simmons and indicated to her to step forward, he was instantly reminded again how high the stakes were this time.

“Thanks to the extensive research files about the poison Hydra is using that Hunter and Bobbi brought back from England, the science department has already managed to create a prototype antidote for it that each of you will have to carry on this mission, in case you come into contact with it.” Hunter’s brow furrowed in slight concern as he noticed how worried the scientist looked during her explanation and he instantly began to wonder how ‘proto’-type this antidote actually still was, but in the end he didn’t even get to ask her, as Skye was suddenly the one who voiced his question out loud.

“And what exactly do you mean, when you say ‘prototype antidote’? Are you even sure it will work? I mean, we’ve all seen what that poison can do and I’d hate to have to rely on an antidote that might or might not work. No offence,” she finished with a weak grin, obviously hoping that her friend wouldn’t feel attacked by her bluntness. But Jemma shook her head quickly, completely professional as always as she replied to Skye’s concerns.

“None taken. Well, the antidote is still a prototype, as I obviously didn’t have a chance to test it on a real patient so far. It did work under lab conditions, though, and the mice I tested it on all survived once the antidote was fully developed.”

“So you infected some mice with that poison,” Skye asked with a slightly appalled expression, prompting a regretful look from Jemma.

“Yes, I had to, and believe me, it was not a pleasant experience,” she replied with a brief shudder, “but those tests, together with the files from Dr. Hunter and the autopsy I performed on Mr. Andrews’ corpse also helped me establish a time frame for the application of the antidote that stayed almost exactly the same for each test subject.” At this point she began handing out armbands to the members of the field team with a small round metal container in the centre and Hunter turned his over curiously, trying to figure out what it was supposed to do as Simmons continued.

“Of course you will have your gas masks with you, which will slow down the effects of the poison considerably, but should you actually inhale it directly, you will only have a few seconds at best to press this button here,” she explained, pointing at a large button in the middle of the metal device, “to inject yourself with the antidote before you will be rendered unable to move.”

“That sounds fun,” Skye remarked sarcastically, and Hunter was silently grateful that the young agent was so curious about the effects of the poison, as he wanted to know about it, too, but still found it hard to talk about this topic, considering his parents’ role in all this.

“Well,” Simmons replied with a grave expression, having seen too much of what the poison did to its victims to even joke about it, “you all saw what happened to the soldiers at Hydra’s safe house. The poison attacks the body’s nerve fibres and certain parts of the brain, causing excruciating pain and seizures, finally leading to acute heart failure due to the immense levels of stress to the system. The antidote, if administered immediately, stops those effects and renders the poison useless.”

“And if it’s not administered immediately?” Hunter now asked, an almost unnoticeable trembling in his voice as he already suspected what Simmons was going to say next. In the end it was the look in her eyes as the scientist hesitated briefly before answering him, that told the mercenary that he was right, causing him to chuckle humourlessly. “There’re going to be lasting effects, aren’t there? The same thing really, just a _lot_ slower, right?” he asked, still remembering his mother’s final weeks all too clearly and how she had kept her sickness from him for years.

Finally, Simmons did reply, nodding slowly, as she probably knew exactly what Hunter was thinking.

“Yes, it would appear so. Of course I don’t have any data on how these effects would manifest in a human and what time frame we would be looking at, but going by the rate brain damage is caused from too long exposure to the poison, I would estimate that if the antidote isn’t administered within the first thirty seconds of contact, there will be permanent effects, most likely similar to the ones caused by the original poison this one is based on. Those would include repeated seizures that consistently weaken the body and well, ultimately death.”

“So, thirty seconds it is then,” Skye now chimed in again, looking from Hunter to Simmons and back again with a slightly bewildered expression, obviously surprised at his reaction, finally causing the mercenary to realise that she had apparently no idea why he was taking this so personally, that he had lost his own mother this way. But before Hunter could even contemplate telling her, Agent Simmons continued, bringing their attention back to the mission at hand.

“Yes, or preferably less. As I said, you will only have a few brief seconds to inject yourself with the antidote before the seizures become too intense, after that you will have to rely on somebody else getting to you before the time is up. Ultimately you have about two minutes in total to use the antidote, before it becomes completely useless. While there would be lasting issues after the first thirty seconds, the injection would still safe your life for the time being. After about two minutes, however, the brain damage is too severe and the poison has latched itself to the body’s tissue too extensively to be neutralised any longer and administering the antidote at that point will show absolutely no effect.”

“But didn’t the soldiers on the tape we saw suffer from seizures for about five minutes before they died?” Trip now asked, looking at Simmons with a deep frown. “What are we supposed to do if we’re too late and the antidote’s not working anymore? Just let them suffer for three more minutes?” The entire team was looking at the scientist expectantly now, waiting for her to answer the question. When Jemma finally did, though, it wasn’t exactly what either of them had been hoping for.

“Well, I can’t… or rather, I don’t really want to make a recommendation for that theoretical situation, but after everything I’ve learned about this poison in the last twenty-four hours, I can say that if it were me, if the only thing I had to look forward to were a few more minutes of unimaginable pain, I think I would rather be put out of my misery instead. But I can obviously not make that decision for anyone else, so I can’t tell you what to do, except, don’t let it come to that,” she finished, causing Hunter to swallow heavily as he saw the upset expression of the agents around him.

There was always this rush of adrenaline before a mission, with his heart thumping in his chest, his breathing going just a little bit faster and all of his muscles tensing up in anticipation. Usually it stopped once the call came to move out and he went into the field, his boots on the ground.

This time it didn’t.

**To be continued…**


	24. Safe And Sound

“Skye, what’s your status?” Coulson asked as he slowly paced up and down in his office, waiting for a reply from the youngest member of his field team.

“May just dropped us off and we’re in a military van on our way downtown to pick up our target with a bunch of Talbot’s guys. ETA about fifteen minutes,” the hacker replied as she glanced over at Trip, who was sitting next to her, and at the soldiers in full combat gear, who were accompanying them on this mission. Each of the men had a device around the forearm, similar to the ones they were carrying and filled with the same antidote Simmons had developed, as the scientist had already shared her findings with the military to make sure that there would be no more casualties from Hydra’s poison.

There was a second car filled with soldiers following them closely, and a third on standby, to make sure that they were prepared should Hydra try to take out their target after all, once they managed to get to her. So far Skye had only given their driver a vague direction to their destination, to keep the informant’s location secret for as long as possible, but she still couldn’t help but worry that somebody might get to the young woman they were tasked to protect before they did.

As her uneasiness had obviously been showing, Trip suddenly laid his hand on hers, stilling her fidgeting fingers, and gave her a small nod and a reassuring smile.

“We’re all good here, sir,” he told Coulson, who was still listening over the comm. “General Talbot made good on his word, and we have all the support here we could ask for. We’ll get back to you once we’ve got eyes on the prize,” he finished with a small grin, waiting for the director to respond.

“Alright, copy that. I’ll be waiting to hear from you,” Coulson agreed, ending the connection to Skye and Trip.

Before he checked in on the next member of the field team, the director took a deep breath and looked around his office, taking in the expressions of the agents Simmons and Koenig, who were standing by should he need either help in coordinating the rescue mission, thanks to its wide scope or in case the team did encounter another poison attack and needed medical guidance.

Both of them seemed to be highly concentrated, if also slightly worried, but at least Simmons appeared to be at least somewhat put at ease by Trip’s assurance. Without saying anything to them, though, Coulson finally continued to check up on his team, with his second-in-command being the next one he reached over the comm.

“May, how are things on your end?” he asked, looking up at the map on the large screen that showed each of the three teams’ location.

“I’m just about to touch down,” the agent replied, while she was concentrating on the Bus’ controls to bring it down safely. “One of Talbot’s teams has already made contact and they’re waiting to pick me up once I’ve landed. The target isn’t far from here fortunately; we should be able to get there in about ten minutes.”

“Good,” Coulson noted with a brief nod, not really having expected anything else at this point. And despite the operation’s still very high stakes, his mood did appear to lighten up a little as he continued. “But May,” he began, the tone of his voice already telling the agent in question that he was going to ask something of her.

“What?” she replied, her voice stern as usual, causing Coulson to sigh briefly before he continued.

“I just want you to know that Allison is a really nice woman. She leaves me intel in a box with homemade cupcakes and always keeps inviting me over for tea. Make sure she gets out of this alive, okay?”, he asked with a fond smile on his lips, causing Agent May to roll her eyes in the solitude of her cockpit.

“Don’t worry, I will. And why does it not surprise me that she makes you cupcakes? How come I never had an informant like that?” she wondered out loud, prompting a soft chuckle from Coulson.

“Do you really want me to answer that?” he asked in return, causing the expression on May’s face to change into a rather sour look.

“No,” she replied curtly as she switched off the machines of the Bus after the successful landing, and got out of the pilot seat, ready to move. “Alright, got to go, Coulson, my ride is waiting. I’ll get in contact again once I’m with the target. Sorry, no,” she corrected herself, an unusually smug grin on her lips, “I mean, once I’m with _Allison_.”

“Alright, copy,” Coulson replied, shaking his head at May’s almost teasing remark as he shut off the connection to her.

“You know,” he began, turning slightly, so that he was looking at Simmons now, “sometimes I think it was a mistake making May Skye’s new S.O. She really seems to be rubbing off on her a bit much lately,” he explained, prompting a soft smile from the scientist.

“Or maybe Skye just brings out a side of Agent May that none of us is really used to her showing,” Simmons replied tentatively, causing Coulson’s brow to furrow in slight surprise, before he nodded in agreement.

“Yes, you might be right, Jemma.” He obviously thought about her suggestion for another moment, before finally concentrating back on the present and opening the comm channel again to reach the third and final field team.

“Agent Morse, Hunter, how are you two doing?” he asked, looking at the red dot on the map showing their location.

“We’re almost there. The university grounds are more than large enough to land the jet, so we’re going there directly. Talbot’s guys are already on their way, they’ll secure the area and keep an eye out for Hydra, while we’ll locate our target and get him out of there,” Bobbi replied, checking her instruments to make sure that she was still on course.

Hunter, who was sitting in the co-pilot seat next to Bobbi, glanced over at her briefly, before he answered Coulson as well.

“Yeah, don’t worry, boss, we’ve got this covered. We’ll grab the kid and get him safely back to the base, before Hydra, or even our new friends can get their hands on him.” He actually managed a rather convincing optimistic smile at this, although the bad feeling in the pit of his stomach was still there, telling him that this mission might not go over as smoothly as he had just made it sound.

“Sounds good,” Coulson agreed, even though he hardly appeared to be convinced by the mercenary’s assurance. “But remember that Alex isn’t a trained operative. He’s one of the newest informant’s I’ve recruited, who doesn’t know anything about this business, so you can’t know for sure how he’ll react under pressure.”

“I’ll make sure he’ll keep his head down,” Hunter replied immediately, looking over at his ex-wife again, a wide grin spreading on his lips, “and Bob’s gonna take out everyone stupid enough to get in our way.” The blond agent looked back at him for a moment, knowing that despite the humour in her ex’s voice, the unwavering confidence in her abilities he was displaying right now was completely genuine, which finally caused her to smile back at him in return.

“Hunter is right, sir,” Bobbi agreed, addressing Coulson now as well, “we’re going to bring your informant back safe and sound, I promise. I’ll get back in touch once we’ve found him, alright?”

“Alright,” the director answered her, before he turned off the comm, leaving Bobbi and Hunter on their own.

The two were silent for about a minute as the agent concentrated on finding a good spot to land the jet, while the mercenary watched her with a sceptical expression, something obviously bothering him. As Bobbi was apparently ignoring his look, though, Hunter finally spoke up, all the light-heartedness from before gone from his voice.

“So you _promise_ , huh? Since when do we do that when we go out on a mission?” he asked sceptically, causing the specialist to give him an almost angry look in return.

“Since I’ve had it with losing people to Hydra, that’s when.” After that she fell silent again for a few seconds, biting her lower lip anxiously, before she continued, even though she was looking straight ahead this time, making sure not to look over at Hunter.

“Don’t you ask yourself why they’re doing this? _Now_?” she asked, causing a deep frown to appear on the mercenary’s face.

“They’re Hydra and they’re killing people who work for SHIELD, that’s rather self-explanatory, isn’t it?” Hunter asked in return, obviously not understanding Bobbi’s concerns. “So no, I don’t ask myself why they’re doing this. They’re the bad guys, they like killing people, and if those people happen to have a connection to one of their enemies, all the better, I guess.”

“Yes, I know,” the agent nodded in agreement, even though the tone of her voice still sounded reluctant, “but this isn’t just any part of Hydra attacking, it’s Unit 31 again, you know it has to be,” she elaborated, glancing over at Hunter briefly. “And so far they didn’t show any interest in SHIELD. They set a trap for the military’s anti-Hydra unit, they took care of a traitor in their ranks, they…”, she hesitated a second, but then went on anyway, “they killed your father, because he had too much information they were afraid he was going to reveal, and now, not even twenty-four hours after our run-in with that assault team at your father’s house, they’re starting to take out SHIELD assets without any obvious motivation. I just have that feeling that there might be something else behind all this and that we can’t let Hydra go through with their plan. Not this time.”

Bobbi’s words were absolutely resolute as she spoke, but before Hunter could think of anything to say in return, he was interrupted as the jet suddenly slowed down considerably and his ex-wife began the landing procedure, as they had arrived at their destination.

“I’ll contact our backup, make sure everyone’s in position,” Bobbi announced, effectively changing the subject as Hunter got out of his seat and headed into the back of the jet.

“Good, I’ll get our weapons and gear. After all, we’ve got no time to waste, right?” he asked, but didn’t wait for Bobbi to reply anything as he left her side and retrieved the heavy rifle he had picked earlier, his sidearm already in its holster. He knew that this wasn’t exactly a stealthy weapon choice, but as they had good reason to expect a Hydra trap somewhere along the way, Coulson had decided to drop any attempt to stay unnoticed and make sure that his team was well armed and ready for anything.

“We’re good to go,” Bobbi announced as she stepped next to him, putting her batons into their holsters on her back and checking her sidearm once more briefly.

“Alright, then let’s go and make sure that this time Hydra _won’t_ be able to go through with their plan,” the mercenary replied as he hit the control to open the back of the jet.

While they were making their way across the campus, it was immediately obvious that Talbot’s team must have evacuated the entire area, and even though both Hunter and Bobbi were well aware that this could easily alert Hydra to their presence here, and therefore their target’s location, neither of them wanted to imagine what would happen if one of their attacks were to take place in an area crowded with students.

“Maybe the kid left with all the other students when they were evacuated,” Hunter suddenly pointed out as they were passing through a large metal gate with two smaller passages at the sides, getting closer to the main part of the campus. “Would have been easy enough to get past the soldiers unnoticed between all those people.”

But Bobbi shook her head in reply as she took out her cell phone and looked at what seemed to be a tracking program running on it.

“No, he told Coulson that he was going to hide here in one of the buildings and Coulson told him to stay put until we got here, so I’m sure he’s still around.” She watched her cell for another moment, until a small red dot suddenly appeared on it and she looked up, trying to figure out the direction. “That way,” she finally announced, pointing at an immense building with some impressive stairs in front of the entrance right across from them.

“Yeah, and looks like our new friends are here, too,” Hunter replied, indicating a group of soldiers that now came into view and was heading in their direction.

“You with SHIELD?” the woman who was obviously in charge of the unit asked as she looked at the two, clearly trying to get a read on them.

“If you like, you can check the back of our jackets,” Hunter replied with a grin, “no silly Hydra symbols there.”

“What he means is ‘yes, we’re with SHIELD’,” Bobbi translated her ex’s strange humour, suppressing the strong urge to roll her eyes at him, “Director Coulson sent us.”

“Good, I’m Captain Grayson. My men and I are here to cover your back and to make sure that Hydra doesn’t kill anyone else off of that hit-list they send us. Do you have a location for the target yet?”, she asked and after a moment’s hesitation, Bobbi nodded and indicated the building she had pointed out to Hunter just a few moments earlier.

“Yes, he should be in there. We’ll go in, you cover the entrance and make sure our exit route is clear,” she instructed, prompting a short nod in return from the Captain.

“Alright. I’ve got a second team in that direction,” she explained, pointing a little to the left from the building they had just been talking about, “I’ll get them to cover the back, so there won’t be any surprises coming that way, either.”

Bobbi and Hunter both nodded in agreement, before they made their way towards the impressive front entrance of the large building. Once inside, Bobbi checked the tracer program running on her cell phone again.

“Where to now, darlin’,” Hunter asked with a brief glance at her, while he was busy checking their surroundings to make sure that they were alone.

“The signal’s coming from upstairs,” the agent replied as she indicated a flight of stairs on the other side of the entrance hall they were in. Her gun in one hand, the cell phone in the other, Bobbi then took the lead and made her way to the second floor of the building, with Hunter following her closely, his eyes constantly darting everywhere, as he couldn’t quite shake the feeling that someone was watching them.

As they arrived at the top of the stairs, there was a long wide corridor going to both sides, but Bobbi quickly went to her right, following the directions her tracer was giving her. She and Hunter made their way forward in silence, each of them with their weapons ready, fully alert. When they had made it almost to the end of the corridor, Bobbi finally stopped and pointed at a door several feet in front of them, which was, going by the sign on the door, leading to the men’s restroom.

Once she was sure that this was indeed the location of the signal they had been following, the agent headed towards the door briskly, but then Hunter suddenly held his arm in front of her, effectively stopping her.

“Wait, I got this,” he announced, causing Bobbi to look back at him in confusion. As she obviously didn’t understand why he wanted to go in alone, the mercenary finally tilted his head slightly, indicating the sign on the door. “It’s the men’s room, love, no girls allowed.”

“Seriously, Hunter?” Bobbi asked in return, completely incredulous that her ex would care about something that trivial in a situation like this.

“Oh, come on, Bob, the kid’s probably scared enough as it is, without us both barging in on him in there. You keep an eye on the corridor while I get him, alright? Plus, I don’t make the rules, sweetheart,” he finished with a grin as he pushed the door to the restroom open and went inside, while the blond agent stayed behind in the corridor, concentrating on any sounds or movements that could indicate an ambush.

Hunter walked past the two sinks in the front of the restroom to the row of bathroom stalls in the back, where he leaned down slightly to get a glimpse underneath the doors, to see if he could spot Alexander Wu, their target already. There was no pair of feet in sight, though, so Hunter figured that either the kid wasn’t in here after all, or that he was at least clever enough to hide properly when there was a Hydra unit out there trying to kill him.

“Alex, I know you’re in here. You can come out now, alright?” he asked, but there was no reaction coming from any of the stalls. Hunter sighed briefly, because even though he knew that it was the smart move to play it safe in this situation, he also knew that they didn't have any time to waste if they wanted to get out of here before Hydra showed up after all.

“Look, my name’s Hunter and I’m with Director Coulson’s team, okay? He sent me to get you out of here and to a safe location.” Still no reaction. “You know, Coulson, the guy who recruited you as an informant for SHIELD? Always wears a suit, pretty idealistic – sometimes annoyingly so,” he added with a slight grimace, “has a weird sense of humour.” He waited another second and this time there was actually movement coming from one of the stalls and one by one a pair of feet stepped down on the ground and a moment later, a young man of clearly Chinese ancestry opened the door and came out, looking at Hunter warily.

In one hand he was holding the strap of his backpack, while the other was clutching a Swiss army knife, which Hunter now eyed with a brief nod, looking almost impressed.

“You actually armed yourself, smart move, mate,” he admitted, causing a proud smile to flash over Alex’s lips for a moment, but it disappeared again the instant Hunter continued. “Though you do realise that if I had been with Hydra, I would have just put a couple of bullets through each of these doors and been done with it, right?” Seeing the disheartened expression on the young man’s face, the mercenary chuckled softly and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him along with him.

“But still, Alex – I can call you Alex, right?” he interrupted himself, waiting for a reaction from the man he was supposed to protect, who finally nodded, still not having said a single word. “Alright, Alex, as I was saying, you knew you were in danger, and your first instincts were to get a weapon and a safe place to lie low in until your extraction team arrived, that’s really good tactical thinking.” They had made it to the restroom door now, where Hunter stopped Alex for a brief second, holding his assault rifle tightly as he knocked against the door once.

“Bob?” he asked, waiting for his ex-wife’s signal.

“Everything’s clear, Hunter,” the agent replied back immediately, after which Hunter and Alex finally stepped out into the corridor. The mercenary exchanged a quick glance with Bobbi, each of them making sure that everything was alright, before he pulled their target closer to introduce him to his ex-wife.

“That’s Bobbi, she and I are going to be your life-savers today, so stay close and keep your head down, then you’re gonna be fine, alright? Oh, and this,” he pulled out another one of the armbands both he and Bobbi were wearing and wrapped it around Alex’s forearm tightly, “this is just in case. Hydra’s using some pretty nasty poison these days, so if they should actually attack us with that stuff, and you inhale it, this is the antidote. Just press the button here,” he explained, pointing at the device, “and you’ll be fine.” He knew perfectly well of course, that ‘fine’ was probably quite the exaggeration, but Hunter didn’t see any point in frightening the kid any more than necessary. As he continued, he made sure that Alex was listening closely, so that he would know what to do just in case things did go south after all.

“Of course it’d be best if you don’t inhale it at all, so if either of us tells you to, use this,” Hunter said, pushing something into the young man’s hands that looked vaguely like a breathing mask you would get in a hospital, only in black and a lot more complicated. “It’s a gas mask, just a pretty posh one. Put it over your nose and mouth and press here,” he was pointing at a small button at the side of the device “the tech’s gonna do the rest. Any questions?” he asked, but Alex shook his head quickly, though this time he actually spoke up as well.

“No, I’ve got it. Stay close, keep my head down, use gas mask and antidote in case of poison attack,” he repeated Hunter’s instructions, and while his nervousness was clearly audible in his voice, he still seemed to have a rather good grip on himself despite the circumstances. “But… I’ve just spent over an hour standing on a toilet seat, so I’m really, _really_ ready to get out of here now,” he announced, prompting a soft chuckle from Hunter.

“Yeah, me too, mate,” he agreed, glancing over at Bobbi, who nodded as well.

“Alright, let’s move,” she declared, then reached for her earpiece to activate the comm once more.

“Coulson, we’ve got the target and are on our way back to the jet now. So far everything is clear,” she told the director, who was still standing in his office, glad that at least one of his teams had already made contact.

“That’s good to hear,” he replied, looking at the large map in front of him and the three red dots that represented the field teams. “You’re the first ones to report a successful meeting, but the others should call back soon as well. Is Alex holding up alright?” he asked, and even if Hunter wasn’t completely sure, he could swear that there was actual concern in the director’s voice.

“Yeah, the kid’s got a stiff upper lip,” he replied, glancing over at the young man in question. “He’ll be okay, don’t worry. But the next time we have an operation like this, I still want to be the one to look after the escort, alright?” the mercenary asked with a grin, and even without seeing him, he could perfectly imagine the frustrated expression on Coulson’s face as the older man replied.

“We’ll see about that, Hunter. Now focus on the mission at hand, will you?” he reprimanded him, even though he knew that this was just Hunter’s way of lightening the mood under the circumstances.

“Yeah, yeah, got it. We’ll get back to you once we’re in the air again. Can’t have any distractions in my ear, after all, right?”

“Right,” Coulson agreed, even though he was slightly shaking his head at the mercenary. “Copy that.” After Coulson had ended the connection, he continued to stare up at the other two dots, the teams he hadn’t heard back from yet, and decided that he was done waiting.

“May, did you make contact yet?” he asked, addressing his second-in-command once he opened the comm channel again.

“Didn’t I tell you that _I_ was going to get back to you?” May replied with a question of her own as she rolled her eyes briefly. But then she still replied, knowing that Coulson was simply worried. “We’ve just pulled up at the location, a cabin at the river that her family owns. Allison should be inside,” she elaborated as she was making her way from the car towards the front door of the small wooden house. Then a thought suddenly seemed to occur to her, though, and she continued in a completely serious tone. “What do you want me to say if she invites me to stay for tea?” the specialist asked, a smile playing on her lips. “Maybe she’ll even have cupcakes. It would be rude to say no, don’t you think?”

“Ha ha, very funny May. I realise now that I should have never told you that,” the director replied, a grim look on his face.

“Just relax, Coulson, I have this under control. There’s been no sign of Hydra so far, Talbot’s people are on full alert,” she explained as she looked at the soldiers checking the area, “and we’ll be out of here in a few moments, alright?”

“Yes, yes I know you’re right, May, I just can’t help thinking that _something_ is going to go wrong today. I just don’t know what yet, and that is driving me crazy.”

“Well, I’ll tell you if I should find out, until then, try not driving me crazy, too, okay?”

“Understood,” Coulson replied with a sigh, realising that he wasn’t actually helping with his constant checkups.

Once her comm was turned off again, Agent May finally knocked on the door of the wooden hut in front of her, and only a few seconds later, an Afro-American woman in her forties opened up, looking at her with a frightened expression, a shotgun in her hands.

“Alright, take it easy,” May said slowly, raising her hands in an effort to make sure that the situation didn’t escalate as she also signalled the soldiers back at the car not to interfere. “Careful with that, okay? I know you’re scared, and you have every right to be, but if you don’t know how to handle that thing, this could get ugly very quickly,” she warned, looking at the weapon in concern.

“Oh, don’t worry, I know how to handle this. Now who are you, and who sent you?” the woman, Allison, asked, and May quickly realised that answering her questions was probably the best and easiest way to solve this situation before it could get out of hand.

“I’m Agent Melinda May with SHIELD. Director Coulson sent me to get you out of here, because you’re one of his informants, and you’re in danger.”

“Hydra could know all of that, too,” the woman replied, obviously still not convinced.

“Maybe,” May replied, inclining her head in agreement, “but would they know about the cupcakes that you’ve made for Director Coulson, or that you’ve been trying to ask him out repeatedly?” she asked in return, prompting Allison to blush heavily.

“I never… never asked him out or anything like that,” she stuttered, but still lowered the shotgun.

“No, you asked him over for tea, but _please_ ,” the specialist replied, an extremely sceptical look on her face as she watched her opponent. At this point, the woman finally dropped her defensive stance and threw the weapon on a nearby table, before she picked up a large purse from the floor and addressed May again, a lot friendlier this time.

“Alright, you are who you say you are, now can we please leave this place? I travelled here to celebrate my father’s birthday this weekend, but as soon as I got Director Coulson’s call, I went out here, so my family wouldn’t be in danger. Are they-”, but before she could say anything else, Agent May interrupted her immediately.

“They’re safe, don’t worry, the military already evacuated them.”

“Good. That’s good,” Allison sighed in relief, before she continued “Now I’ve been sitting here all this time, with nothing to defend myself, except from this ancient shotgun, that doesn’t even have any shells left, and I just want to get out of here.”

“That’s why I’m here,” May replied, and together the two women made their way over to the car that had brought the SHIELD agent here. The soldiers, who had been searching the area for any signs of Hydra so far, moved back as well, and the small convoy, consisting of three cars in total, rolled out again, leaving the small cabin behind.

Alison seemed to have calmed down considerably, now that she had a trained SHIELD agent at her side, even though she was still clutching her bag tightly, her eyes constantly watching the road ahead of them. She was sitting in the back seat by herself, while Agent May was in the front passenger seat, with one of Talbot’s soldiers driving the car. They were in the middle of the convoy, with one car driving in front of them, the other behind them, to make sure that they were as safe as possible.

“Put this around your arm,” Agent May suddenly ordered as she held an armband with a round metal device on it out to Allison, who took it reluctantly. She fastened it around her forearm, following May’s instructions, even though she clearly had no idea why.

“What’s that supposed to-”, she began to ask, but was suddenly cut off by the painfully loud sound of an explosion right in front of them, and as the specialist spun back around in her seat, all she could see was a large fireball on the road ahead of them, where the first car of the convoy had just been, with a field of debris cluttering the street.

“Don’t stop the car!”, May shouted to the soldier next to her, but by that point it was already too late, and they had come to a screeching halt, putting them right out in the open. When the second explosion hit, the agent didn’t even have to turn around to know that the car behind them was gone, too, and that they were on their own now, just the three of them.

**To be continued…**


	25. There’s Never A Guarantee

Fitz was kneeling on the black leather couch in the lounge part of the Playground’s common room, trying to reach into the tiny space behind the massive pipe that was running into the ground there as Mack walked into the room, tilting his head slightly as he watched the engineer’s efforts.

“What exactly are you doing there, Turbo?” he finally asked after a few moments, his arms crossed in front of his chest as Fitz turned around, looking slightly embarrassed at being caught in this unflattering position.

“Peggy is hiding behind the pipe,” he explained, gesturing towards the tight space he had been focused on, “and I’m trying to get her out of there. Hunter asked me to cat-sit for him before he left with the others, so that’s what I’m trying to do, but she won’t even let me pet her.” The frustration in the young man’s voice was obvious as he thought back to his brief talk with Hunter, before the mercenary had left the base with the rest of the field team.

 _“Hey, Fitz, have you ever had a pet before?”_ had sounded like such an innocent question at the time, but by now the engineer was already relieved that the answer to that question had been ‘no’, as he didn’t get the feeling that he was much of a pet-person, at least judging by how this first experience was going so far.

“‘Cat-sit’, huh?” Mack repeated the word with a soft chuckle as he leaned to the side, barely able to make out a tuft of grey fur in the corner of the room behind the large pipe.

“Yes, I told him that I never had a cat, and that I’m busy with… with work and everything and that he should ask you, but he said that you were utterly afraid of cats and that they hate you, so-”

“Hey, I am not afraid of cats, alright?”, Mack protested, prompting a disbelieving expression to appear on the younger man’s face.

“He said ‘ _utterly_ ’”, Fitz repeated, absolutely deadpan, as if Hunter’s word was more than enough evidence for Mack’s supposed fear of the base’s newest inhabitant. The mechanic responded with a rather sour look and crossed his arms even further.

“Well, let’s just say I’m not a fan of cats and they’re no fans of me, either. Dogs are great, I love dogs, but cats, not so much.”

Fitz looked at him sceptically for another second, until he finally decided to drop the issue, shrugging helplessly as he stood up from the couch.

“Yeah, alright, but now I have to take care of her. Hunter said Peggy was low-maintenance and that I should just look after her for a bit while everything here is still new to her, to make sure she doesn’t cause any damage, but she doesn’t listen when I call her, and now she’s been hiding behind that pipe for a while already and won’t come out again.” A slight trace of desperation was creeping into the engineer’s voice as he explained his futile efforts to get the furry animal under control and when Mack answered him in a light-hearted tone, it didn’t do anything to improve his mood.

“You really never had a cat, did you?”, the mechanic asked, prompting an almost incredulous look from Fitz.

“No, that’s what I just said, Mack,” he replied matter-of-factly, already questioning the taller agent’s listening skills. “I don’t know how to do this.”

Finally taking pity on the obviously distraught scientist, Mack nodded slowly and walked over to the kitchen, while indicating to Fitz to sit down on the couch opposite to the one he had been kneeling on before.

“Okay, Fitz, I might not exactly be a cat-person, but I think I might still be able to give you a few tips on how to handle her. First of all, cats don’t listen. Ever. They come to you when they want to, not because you tell them to. Well, unless you have food, that usually does the trick,” he added as he opened the fridge and pulled out a piece of cold chicken meat. Then he walked back over to the lounge area and sat down next to the younger man, handing him the food in the process.

“Throw a little piece of that over to her and then we wait,” he instructed, watching as Fitz tore of a small chunk from the meat and tossed it into the corner behind the large metal pipe. For a second he thought about commenting on the fact that Fitz had actually managed to hit the small space on the first try, but then he decided against it, realising that something else seemed to be bothering the engineer and that he didn’t need him bringing up his coordination problems as well now.

They could see Peggy quickly eating the piece of chicken Fitz had thrown her, but so far there wasn’t any more movement in the corner, and so Mack turned towards the young man beside him, scrutinising his worried expression.

“So… what’s all this really about, Turbo? It’s not just about Hunter’s cat, is it?”

Fitz looked down at his hands for a moment, obviously avoiding Mack’s questioning glare, and when he replied, he sounded so upset that he actually startled the mechanic for a moment.

“No, no it’s not. It’s just… hearing all that talk about dead informants and that terrible poison and lasting effects and everything…”, he trailed off for a moment, his concern more than evident in his features. When he finally continued, he looked directly at Mack, an uneasy expression on his face. “What if I have to keep her?”

“Keep her? What do you mean, ‘keep her’?”, the mechanic asked back, not understanding what the younger man was getting at.

“Peggy,” he replied, gesturing into the corner. “What if Hunter doesn’t come back, then I’ll have to keep her and… and that’s not going to work if I don’t know how to do this.”

Caught slightly off guard by Fitz’s emotional words, Mack lowered his voice a little as he replied, a decisive look in his eyes.

“Hunter’s going to be fine, alright? Bobbi’s there and they’re both looking out for each other. They make a great team, so don’t worry,” he tried to reassure the scientist, but obviously to no avail.

“And what about the others? Skye, Trip, they might get in trouble. Agent May is out there all on her own, something could happen to her,” Fitz pointed out, prompting an exasperated sound to escape Mack’s throat.

“Okay, first of all, none of our teams is on their own, they all have General Talbot’s soldiers there as backup. And second, they’re field agents, Fitz, they go out there all the time, why are you suddenly so worried about them now?” the mechanic asked, shaking his head slightly as he tried to figure out what had caused the younger agent’s panic.

“Didn’t you hear what Coulson said?” Fitz replied instantly, looking at Mack incredulously. “There were fifteen names on that list and Hydra already killed twelve of them.” He might have wanted to say something else, but the taller agent replied immediately.

“They were informants, Fitz, they didn’t have-”, he started, but the scientist cut him off again instantly, not even letting him finish his sentence.

“They were working for Coulson, which means they were working for SHIELD and that’s why they were killed. I don’t care if they had a badge or not, losing them still means that we lost another part of SHIELD,” he pointed out, his words absolutely sincere.

Mack looked at him for a moment in silence, studying the younger man’s expression, understanding in his voice as he finally replied.

“I know. But what I was trying to say, Fitz, is that they didn’t have any training, our field teams do. They’ll be alright,” he assured him, his eyes wandering over to the stairs leading to Coulson’s office for a split second.

“Hunter’s dad had training,” Fitz countered back quietly, causing Mack to sigh deeply in response, a genuinely sad look on his face as the scientist continued. “Judging by the stories going around the base, he was an amazing field agent in the past and now he’s dead. Hydra shot him right in front of Hunter just yesterday, and now _he’s_ out there, too, risking his life with the others, so what does it matter if they’re all trained? There’s no guarantee that that’s gonna save them.”

Mack was already about to reply something, when a soft purring sound interrupted him, and as he and Fitz both looked down, they saw Peggy coming around the side of the couch and rubbing herself against the engineer’s legs.

“See, she does like you after all,” the mechanic pointed out with a soft chuckle, which only intensified as he noticed the slightly panicked expression on Fitz’s face.

“Whoa, what… what do I do now?” the young scientist asked, looking mildly terrified.

“Well, give her the rest of the meat and then you could try petting her. If she lets you, you could even pick her up,” Mack suggested, nodding his head encouragingly.

After another moment’s hesitation, Fitz finally followed the instruction and leaned down a little, holding out his hand with the chicken, which Peggy ate up immediately. Once she was done, Fitz began running his hand over the cat’s soft fur, eliciting an even louder purring than before from her in response as she leaned against him further. A smile spread on the engineer’s lips at this small victory, a little nervous at first, but quickly becoming steadier as he continued to stroke the striped animal.

In the end he actually gathered his courage and leaned down to carefully pick up the small cat and, after a brief indecisive moment, put her down in his lap where she curled up, clearly enjoying the attention.

They all sat like this in silence for a short while, the only sound in the room Peggy’s soft purring, until Mack spoke again gently, finally answering to Fitz’s outburst from earlier.

“There’s never a guarantee, Turbo, not for anything in this business, or in this life, really. But I’m sure Coulson’s got our people’s backs, they have military support on the scene and they know what they’re doing. They’re being as safe as they can be, so stop worrying so much, alright?” he asked, waiting until Fitz nodded briefly before continuing with a grin. “Though it’s probably still a good thing that you’re getting along with her this well,” he said, indicating the grey tabby, “‘cause knowing Hunter, this definitely won’t be the last time he’ll dump the responsibility for her onto you,” he explained, reaching out to pet the cat himself now, despite his usual aversion against the species in general.

His statement that this aversion was mutual apparently was true, though, as Peggy suddenly let out an angry hiss as soon as Mack touched her, quickly swiping at his hand.

“Ah, damn it!” the mechanic cursed as he pulled back and looked at the small scratch across his index finger before eying the pet in Fitz’s lap with a disgruntled look. “I knew there was a reason why I don’t like these stupid furballs. Call me once there’s any news on our teams, Turbo, okay? I’ve still got stuff to finish in the garage, so I’ll better head back there for now.”

He threw one last irritated look at Peggy, who had curled back up in Fitz’s lap innocently and was obviously quite enjoying herself, going by the continued purring, and then nodded to the scientist, before heading off towards the hangar again.

Fitz stayed behind, a little more at ease now after Mack’s comforting words, but even while he kept stroking gently across Peggy’s soft grey fur, he couldn’t stop himself from glancing to the stairs to Coulson’s office repeatedly, an uneasy feeling still in the pit of his stomach.

 

* * *

 

“Get down!”, Agent May shouted at Allison, causing the terrified woman to lay low across the back seat of the car, covering her head with her hands.

The specialist took a quick glance around, assessing their situation in a single moment. Her first suspicion had been right of course, and just like the one in front of them, the car that had been driving behind them so far was now nothing more than a burning wreckage, after what she suspected must have been an RPG, had hit it.

There were several buildings in the vicinity, but May couldn’t make out where the attack had come from, as her line of sight was severely restricted, due to the flames and smoke surrounding the vehicle.

“Get us out of here, now!“ she instructed the soldier sitting next to her in a fierce tone, causing the young man to nod in response, snapping out of his initial moment of shock. He shifted gears and drove several feet backwards, so he could manoeuvre around the still burning car in front of them, but the second he was about to switch back to forward speed, the supposedly bullet-proof glass next to May shattered, and the soldier collapsed in his seat, dead, blood trickling down from the bullet hole in the side of his head.

As she knew that she had no time to waste, Agent May instantly sprang into action, her jaw set firmly, mirroring her perfect composure, even under these extreme circumstances. She unlocked the safety belt of the now limp soldier in the driver’s seat, not even having bothered with her own yet, then reached over him to open the door.

If a part of her was feeling regret for her pragmatic response, the agent didn’t show it as she pushed the young man’s dead body out of the car and then slipped into the now empty seat herself, before shutting the door again and shifting the gear back into the right position.

Allison was whimpering slightly in the back seat as the car started moving again at a fast pace, the small jolt as they swiped the burning wreckage in front of them causing her to press herself even lower against the upholstery in fear.

May glanced back at her briefly, to make sure that the woman she was supposed to protect was alright, aside from the understandable panic, then kept her eyes on the road again as she finally had the chance to activate her radio to call for additional backup.

Usually she appreciated Coulson’s good judgement, but this was definitely one of the few times she absolutely hated the fact that he had been right once again.

 

* * *

 

“You know, if I ever have to go into hiding again, I think I’m gonna pick a place just like this one to lay low,” Skye remarked light-heartedly as she and Trip stepped out of the elevator on the twentieth floor of the very expensive looking apartment building where Nina Kuralenkow, the woman Coulson had told them to protect, was hiding out at the moment.

“Yeah well, then you better start saving up already, ‘cause I don’t think Coulson would spring for this,” Trip replied with a grin as he looked down at the considerably shorter woman beside him.

They were both wearing their tactical outfits and had their guns ready as they approached their target’s location, the carefree banter not distracting them from the seriousness of their situation. A team of four soldiers was right behind them, securing the exit and the corridor as they went, while the rest of their support team had stayed downstairs in the lobby, to make sure to stop a possible Hydra attack before it could even happen.

“Yeah, I know,” Skye answered him with a chuckle, “he likes spending SHIELD’s money on boring stuff like food rations, ammo or jet fuel instead.”

“That man’s obviously got no sense of priorities,” Trip agreed as he was checking the numbers on the doors they were passing, finally indicating one not far ahead of them. He had been smiling brightly throughout this light-hearted exchange with Skye, but now his expression became serious again as they approached their target.

Just as Skye was about to knock, her heart seemed to skip a beat as one of the doors they had passed seconds ago suddenly opened, but it was only an old woman, who wanted to take her small dog for a walk, prompting the hacker to relax again. The lady was quickly ushered back into her apartment by the soldiers accompanying them and Skye was already glad for the backup, just so she didn’t have to deal with this.

She exchanged one final look with Trip, before knocking on the door in front of her, and a moment later a woman in her late twenties opened up, a frightened look on her face.

She was wearing a simple pair of jeans, a t-shirt from an 80’s rock band and a hoody, her long black hair tied up messily. Skye knew that this was definitely their target, Nina Kuralenkow, but if she hadn’t seen the picture of her from Coulson’s file, she never would have believed that the woman in front of her earned her money as a high-society escort, despite the fact that she was quite beautiful even in her extremely casual outfit.

“Hey, Nina, I’m Skye, this is Trip,” the young agent introduced herself and her partner, deciding to make this meeting as informal as possible to put her target at ease, knowing how frightening the situation had to be for her. “Director Coulson sent us to protect you, so if you have anything you want to take with you, get your things and we’ll move you to a secure location.”

The young woman took a long look at the two agents in front of her and the soldiers accompanying them, before she nodded reluctantly, and stepped back into the apartment.

“And you’re sure I’m not safe here?” she asked as she went into the living room, where she started to gather up the few things on the table there and stuffed them into a bag that had been lying on the couch. “This apartment belongs to a… friend, he lets me stay here sometimes, but I’ve never told anyone where it is.”

“Sorry, ma’am, but we just can’t risk it. Not with Hydra looking for you. Even if they don’t know about this place yet, sooner or later they would find you here, so it’s better if we get going before they do,” Trip pointed out, causing Nina to look up at him, her brow slightly furrowed.

“Alright, you’re the experts on this, and if you and Coulson think I’m in danger, then I’ll come with you, but only if you promise never to call me ‘ma’am’ again, alright?”, she asked with a grin, and even though Trip could tell that she was just putting on a brave face, he answered her with a bright smile in return.

“If you insist, _milady_ ,” he replied with a hinted bow, causing Nina to chuckle softly and shake her head at his teasing demeanour.

Skye looked back and forth between the two for a moment, looking both amused and appalled at the same time.

“Seriously, guys, _now_?” she wondered incredulously, but before Trip could reply anything to her, they were suddenly interrupted as their radios came back to life and Coulson’s tense voice sounded over the comm channel.

“Skye, Trip, are you alright?” he asked, causing the hacker to glance over at her partner in confusion.

“Yeah, we’re fine. We’ve just picked up Nina and are about to head out. What’s wrong?” she asked, pulling her gun from its holster in anticipation of danger as her training kicked in.

“May’s been attacked. She and her target are alright, but she’s lost her support team and is on her own now.”

Skye’s mouth stood slightly agape for a second as her concern for her S.O. grew with ever word Coulson said. She knew that she and Trip still had a mission of their own, but she also couldn’t stop herself from wanting to do something, anything to assist Agent May.

“Is there anything Trip and I can do? I know May is… _May_ , but I’m not sure even she can take on a whole Hydra team by herself.” Even without looking at the small monitor around her wrist, Skye knew that her heart was racing at the moment, but right now she couldn’t care less about her lessons to control her emotions.

“No, Skye,” Coulson replied, and the young hacker didn’t even need to see him to know that there was a mixture of concern and appreciation on his face. “You and Trip stay with Nina. Get her out of there safely and be on your guard! We don’t know how many Hydra teams are out there. They might just be at one location, or maybe they’re at yours, too, and this entire rescue operation has been nothing but one big trap.”

The anxious look on Skye’s face only became stronger at these words, but in the end it was Trip, who spoke next, even his professional tone not completely hiding his concern.

“What about Hunter and Agent Morse, are they alright?”

“They were when I spoke with them about two minutes ago, and I haven’t heard anything yet saying otherwise. But I’m going to check on them next. Now you two get out of there, alright, and… be careful.”

“Copy that, sir,” Trip replied with a tense look at Skye, who nodded briefly.

“Yeah, copy that.” Then she turned off the comm and faced Nina once again, who had obviously only been hearing half of the conversation, but had still gathered that there was something wrong.

“What’s going on?” she asked, looking from Skye to Trip and back again, waiting for one of the agents to give her an honest answer.

“It might be nothing, but we need to move. Now,” Skye informed her curtly as she took a hold of the young woman’s arm and began pulling her towards the door gently, but decisively. She glanced briefly over at Trip, who was right beside them, then nodded to the two soldiers standing by the door, signalling them that they needed to leave.

Before either of them could open the door, though, a deafening blast coming from the wall to Skye’s left suddenly shook the entire apartment, hurling everyone inside the room off their feet and sending them crashing to the floor as fire and smoke filled the air and debris came raining down on them.

**To be continued…**


	26. The Things They Did

Skye coughed violently, trying to clear her lungs from the ashes flying around her as she was lying on the floor, completely disoriented for a moment. She could barely hear anything around her, all the sounds strangely muffled, which wasn’t exactly helpful as she was trying to get her bearings again. When her eyes fell on Trip and Nina, however, who were lying a few feet away from her, both stirring slightly, everything came back to her and she remembered again what had happened.

Only a few seconds ago, an explosion had ripped through the apartment, and as Skye now lifted her head up slightly, she realised to her surprise that there was now a gaping hole in the wall connecting this apartment to the one next door. Before she had any chance to react, though, her surprise quickly turned to horror as she saw a group of armed men coming through the hole and towards her and the others. The young agent immediately scrambled for her gun, which was lying on the floor just out of her reach, but just as she was already about to grab it and open fire on the intruders, she realised that she was not only out in the open, but also severely outnumbered, meaning that shooting now would be a sure death sentence for her.

“Leave it!”, one of the men ordered sharply as Skye’s hearing was obviously returning slowly, and a quick glance at Trip, who was only now starting to wake up again, and at the two soldiers, who had been in the room with them, but were still knocked unconscious, told the agent that she had no other choice but to obey.

Sighing, Skye pulled her hand back and pushed herself up into a kneeling position, not wanting to be crawling on the floor in front of Hydra, but also not wanting to risk getting back to her feet yet, as she had just been blown across the room by an explosion moments ago and didn’t trust her legs to carry her weight again yet.

In this position she could at least actually get a closer look at the men who had just entered the room, and going by their combat gear, the young agent immediately recognised them as Hydra foot soldiers, except for one of them, who seemed to be the person in charge, even though he wasn’t saying anything right now. He had extremely short hair in a buzz cut and broad shoulders, making him look more like a muscle-kind-of guy, but the expensive suit he was wearing did distinguish him quite significantly from the rest of his group, even though it seemed rather out of place here in the wreckage of what had been an extremely beautiful apartment just moments ago.

Two of the Hydra soldiers started pulling Trip up on his knees now as well, disarming him in the process, while a third positioned himself in front of Skye, his rifle aimed at her head, the look in his eyes just daring her to try anything. The guy in the suit gave a small signal, and the rest of his men headed out of the apartment door into the corridor, but not before one of them had put a round of bullets into each of the unconscious soldiers still lying in a heap on the floor, effectively destroying Skye’s hope for them to come to their rescue.

Once the rest of the Hydra operatives had disappeared into the hallway, they could hear shooting coming from there, as they had obviously made contact with the rest of Talbot’s soldiers, but as there was no telling which side was going to win, the young agent knew that she couldn’t risk to just wait and find out. She and Trip had to find a way to get out of this situation by themselves, she just didn’t have any idea how they were going to accomplish that.

As the broad-shouldered man in front of her suddenly started moving towards Nina, Skye realised, though, that they had to come up with something fast, or their mission would come to a disastrous ending right here.

She watched in horror as the Hydra agent leaned down to the young woman, who had still been trying to pull herself back together after the explosion, and laid his hand around her throat, pulling her up with an effortlessness that clearly betrayed his considerable strength.

“Let her go!“ Skye shouted angrily, unable to stop her outburst, even though she knew it was utterly futile. She was vividly reminded of that as the soldier next to her hit her across the head with the butt of his rifle, only adding to her already pounding headache.

“Hey, how about you come over here and try that again, tough guy!“ Trip declared in a tense tone, but even though Skye was grateful that he was trying to defend her, she couldn’t help but think that she wasn’t the one in danger right now. Because the silent guy in the suit still had his hand wrapped tightly around Nina’s throat, choking her, his eyes never leaving her face as she frantically tried to breathe.

The young woman’s lips were already starting to turn blue as Skye kept looking around the room, trying to figure out a way to get out of this. Left with no weapons, three men guarding her and Trip, watching their every move, she didn’t know what to do, though, and was left with no other choice, but to watch, as the woman she had been supposed to protect was slowly being choked to death right in front of her.

* * *

Just like before, Bobbi was leading the way as she, Hunter and Alex were making their way back out of the building, the young man they were supposed to protect looking around nervously while staying as close to the mercenary as he could. It was obvious that Hunter’s earlier encouraging words and friendly behaviour towards him had shown the desired effect and Alex was already trusting him, willing to put his life in his hands if need be.

Just a few seconds ago, they had informed Director Coulson that they had made contact with their target and were headed back to the Quinjet, but their assertion that everything was clear, and that they hadn’t made any contact with Hydra yet, was quickly proven obsolete by the shots and shouting they could suddenly hear coming from the entrance of the building as they were making their way back down to the ground floor.

“Now that’s just bloody brilliant,” Hunter sighed, tightening his hold on his weapon, “and here I actually thought, just for a second, that this might be our lucky day and those Hydra bastards wouldn’t turn up here.” He looked over at Bobbi, taking in her utterly professional appearance for a moment, a questioning look on his face.

“You think we should go out and help them?” he asked, but before the agent had the chance to reply, they could suddenly hear Captain Grayson’s voice over the radio, strained but clearly composed.

“We’re under attack from a Hydra unit at the front side of the building. Do you have acquired your target yet?” she wanted to know, the sound of bullets flying muffling her voice slightly.

“Yes, he’s with us,” Bobbi replied, looking at the young man standing next to her and Hunter. “But I guess we’re going to have to find a different exit route, right?”

“Yes, looks like it. We have good cover and backup’s on the way, but this might take a while, so we’re not going to be able to assist you for now,” the Captain replied apologetically.

“What about you?”, Hunter asked in return, a worried expression darkening his features. “Going by what we can hear, it sounds like you are the ones who could need some assistance right now.” He swallowed heavily as he waited for the soldier to answer, feeling as if letting her and her team fend for themselves would mean leaving them behind.

“I appreciate the offer, Agent, but you already have your orders, remember? Just get your target to safety, we’ll be fine.”

Hunter had the sudden urge to correct her, to tell her that even though he was working for SHIELD, he was not one of their agents, and that he had in fact spent several years as a soldier just like her, but in the end he swallowed his objection and nodded, even though the Captain could obviously not see that.

“Alright, copy that,” he replied, regret colouring his voice. “Good luck.” With that he deactivated his radio once more and took a deep breath, before focusing on Bobbi again.

“Well, you heard the lady, it’s time that we get out of here.” Then he turned towards Alex, a questioning look on his face. “Where is the back door?”

“There are two actually,” the young man replied, his breathing going noticeably quicker ever since the shooting outside had started. “The closest one is that way,” he explained, pointing down a corridor leading away from the bottom of the stairs.

Hunter and Bobbi exchanged a quick glance and nodded to each other in silent agreement, before they started to make their way in that direction, the mercenary pulling Alex along with him.

* * *

The vehicle was shooting down the street at a dangerous speed, weaving in and out of traffic as Agent May was trying to get her target and herself to safety. She had already informed Director Coulson about the attack, and he had promised to try and send her backup as soon as possible, but she also knew that her best bet right now was to get back to the Bus and into the air, before Hydra could check another name off their hit list.

May glanced briefly into the rear view mirror, to try and see if the two cars that had started following them shortly after the destruction of the rest of their convoy were still there, her lips tightening ever so slightly as she ultimately spotted them on the road behind her. They did, however, seem to have gained some distance to their followers as she noted in relief, but she also knew that that was far from an all-clear, and so she tried to go even faster, her eyes fixed on the road ahead once again.

“Allison, I know this probably isn’t quite the rescue you expected, but I still have an extraction plan. Just hold tight back there and keep your head down, I’ll get us out of here,” the agent explained, making a conscious effort to keep the other woman calm, as she knew how terrifying this whole situation had to be, especially for a civilian like her.

“I should have never agreed to help SHIELD,” Allison sobbed quietly, her hands still covering her head as she was lying down on the back seat of the car.

May’s brow furrowed as she replied to the woman Coulson had spoken so highly of, not missing a beat as she swerved around the car on the road in front of her at a reckless pace.

“You were doing an important job for a good cause, that’s nothing you should regret. I know you’re afraid, but-”, she tried soothing her passenger, only for the frightened woman to interrupt her in a desperate tone.

“They’re dead! All those soldiers in the other two cars and the one driving this one, they’re all dead because of _me_!“ Allison all but shouted, looking up at May with a mixture of panic, fear and anger.

“No, not because of you,” May replied, the expression on her face hardening. “They’re dead because of Hydra. Because of the same people you’ve been helping us fight, whether you realised that or not. You get to be scared, you get to be sad or angry, but you _don’t_ get to blame yourself or anyone else for the things _they_ did. Understood?”

There was no reply except from a weak sobbing coming from the back seat at first, so Agent May repeated her question, her tone decisive, but also with a trace of warmth in it.

“I asked if you understood that.”

“Yeah… yeah, I got it,” Allison finally replied, her voice still trembling slightly, but already a lot calmer than before.

“Good,” the specialist replied curtly as she was still focused on the street in front of her.

As they had left any residential areas behind by now, and were getting closer to the airfield where May had parked the Bus earlier, there was less traffic now, making it easier for her to drive as fast as the car would allow her to. However, this was also true for their pursuer, obviously, and so the chase still continued as the SHIELD agent kept straining the engine to its limits.

There were no other cars left between the military vehicle May was steering and the ones following them, and as the agent took another quick look in the rear view mirror, she could see that one of the Hydra operatives was leaning out of the window of his car, something that clearly had to be a weapon in his hand.

Instinctively she turned the wheel slightly, causing the car to swerve along the road, to make sure that her enemy wouldn’t get a clear shot, even though she was pretty sure that that would be impossible over this distance and at this speed anyway. The other cars were so far away in fact, that Agent May couldn’t even make out what kind of weapon her attacker was holding, just that it wasn’t big enough to be an RPG like the one that had destroyed the rest of the convoy.

“What’s going on?” Allison asked, obviously having noticed the irregular pattern May was driving in now.

“Just a precaution, don’t worry about it,” the agent assured her, forcing herself to sound as optimistic as possible, but just as the words had left her mouth, the car suddenly jerked violently, and no matter how tightly she grabbed the steering wheel, she couldn’t get it under control again.

May instantly knew that they must have been hit by something, and that they had probably lost at least one of the wheels, but that knowledge wasn’t doing her any good as the vehicle suddenly turned sideways and then flipped over, tumbling uncontrollably.

* * *

As they were making their way towards one of the back entrances of the large university building, Hunter’s eyes kept darting around constantly, noting Bobbi’s and Alex’s position at any moment, to make sure that when shit hit the fan, which he just _knew_ would happen sooner or later, he was ready to protect both of them from whatever they would be up against.

They had talked to Director Coulson again by now, informed him about their sort of run-in with Hydra, only to learn that they weren’t the only ones whose mission had taken a sudden turn for the worse. Agent May had been attacked as well, and even though Hunter definitely wasn’t letting himself be distracted by his concern for her, he still hoped that the agent would be alright, no matter how scary he personally thought she was.

“How far?” he asked quietly, glancing over at Alex for a moment before focusing again on the corridor ahead of them.

“Not far,” the young man replied, mimicking the mercenary’s soft tone. “It’s just ahead, right there behind that turn,” he explained, pointing at the sharp corner at the end of the corridor only about 15 meters in front of them.

As they had crossed about half of that distance, Bobbi indicated to the two of them to stay behind, while she made sure that everything was clear, but as soon as the blond woman had stepped around the corner, Hunter could immediately see that something was wrong.

“What?” he asked, the tense tone of his voice betraying his concern.

Bobbi kept looking ahead of her for a moment, until she finally lowered her gun, her expression visibly stricken, despite her still clear composure.

“I found the second team Captain Grayson mentioned earlier,” she explained, and going by the sound of his ex-wife’s voice, Hunter didn’t even have to see the soldiers to know that they were all dead already.

“Bloody hell!”, he pressed out between clenched teeth, slamming his fist against the wall angrily. “Is it safe now at least?”, he finally asked, looking over at Alex once more, not wanting to risk anything if it meant putting the young man in danger.

Bobbi took another long look at the scene in front of her, the six dead bodies that were lying on the floor in the large foyer leading to the back door, trying to figure out if whoever had killed them was still around.

“Just wait a second,” she finally replied, a slight frown on her face as she noticed a trail of blood leading away from the scene and towards a door marked ‘Janitor’, which she now pushed open quickly, her gun raised, ready to take out whoever was behind it.

 

* * *

 

Skye felt as if she couldn’t breathe herself. She was still on her knees, her arms behind her head, forced to watch helplessly as the nameless Hydra operative was killing her target with his bare hands, obviously enjoying every second of it. She even wished she would have just picked up her weapon earlier, because no matter the consequences, at least then she wouldn’t have to feel this helpless right now. She kept trying to imagine what Agent May would do in her position, but somehow Skye couldn’t see her ever letting the situation get out of hand like this.

“Please, don’t do that,” she addressed the man in the suit once again, calmer this time, begging him to spare the life of the woman Coulson had charged her to protect. He only smirked briefly in response, though, and even fastened his grip ever so slightly, making it more than obvious that Skye could not expect any kind of mercy from him. During all of this, Nina was grabbing at his hand feebly, but her attacker didn’t even seem to notice her attempts at freeing herself from his hold.

Skye swallowed hard and desperately looked around once more, but as she already thought that everything was hopeless, she noticed a small movement out of the corner of her eye. Doing her best not to arouse any suspicion, she looked again, finally realising that it was one of the wounded soldiers, who was lying between her and the door and who was obviously still alive despite his severe injuries, his glazed eyes darting across the situation in front of him.

Skye took a few small breaths to steady herself, slow down her heartbeat, which she knew had been going far too fast once again, then she looked over at Trip, indicating to him that she had a plan, and that she just needed a small distraction to carry it out. He nodded ever so slightly in reply, before turning his attention back to the broad-shouldered guy still choking Nina.

“Yo, man, nobody ever tell you that this kind of shit is really rude? I mean, you didn’t even introduce yourself, you just barge in here unannounced, start killing people, are that really the kind of manners they teach at Hydra Academy?” The man in the suit barely spared Trip a glance for his efforts, but one of the men guarding him gave him a good kick with his boot, his voice angry as he addressed the SHIELD agent.

“Shut the hell up, or I’ll make you, got it?” he threatened him, but all of this commotion was just the distraction Skye had needed as she focused once more on the injured soldier, making sure he understood what she wanted him to do, while only being able to use her eyes to convey her plan.

Once she had made her intentions clear to the wounded man, she took another deep breath, and by the time the shots from the soldier’s rifle rang out, hitting the Hydra operative, who had just kicked Trip, she was ready and reacted immediately.

The guard standing beside her was so distracted by the sudden gunfire that Skye didn’t have any problem reaching up and disarming him, pulling him down to the ground in the process. She didn’t hesitate to put several rounds into him, making sure he was dead, just as Trip made equally short work of the one guard still standing, finishing off both him and the one the soldier had injured already.

Now it was just the two of them, Nina and the man in the suit still choking her who were left, as Skye quickly noticed that their saviour had lost consciousness by now, and she could only hope that they would still be able to save him once this situation was resolved. Before she could do anything, though, the Hydra operative reacted quickly, and forcefully pushed the young woman in his grip in Skye’s direction, making them both stumble to the floor as he attacked Trip, the weapon the agent had just acquired being forced from his grip once again.

Clearly being fed up by now, Trip suddenly lunged at his attacker, sending both of them to the ground as he shouted out to Skye in a tense voice.

“Get Nina out of here, Skye, now! There might be others coming for her.”

The female agent was already about to protest, but as she saw the terrified look of the young woman next to her, who was coughing heavily, obviously still struggling to breathe, she finally nodded, realising that Trip was right.

“Come on!“ she ordered as she pulled Nina back to her feet and then out into the corridor, hoping that she wasn’t making a mistake by leaving her partner behind.

* * *

May was aching all over as her eyes flew back open, and she drew in a ragged breath as she took in the scene around her.

The car was back upright, but going just by the damage she could see from her position in the driver’s seat, it must have turned over several times before landing in the roadside ditch it was in now. She also quickly realised that she only could have been out for a few seconds, as the metal of the car was still settling, creaking slightly around her.

Before May had the chance, however, to pull herself together again and to find out what had happened to Allison, she suddenly heard movement and frantic sobs from the back seat and then the sound of the back door opening.

“No,” the specialist muttered as she turned around, already expecting to see the Hydra agents, who had been following them, pulling her passenger out of the car, but then she had to realise that they weren’t anywhere in sight.

Apparently overcome by her shock and fear, Allison had jumped out of the car by herself and was now trying to get as far away from the wreckage as she could, stumbling slightly as she was obviously still shaking from the crash.

“Damn it. Get back here!” May called out to the frightened woman, but as she herself hadn’t been unaffected by the accident, either, her voice was too weak to even reach Allison over the distance she had already run by now. The agent quickly tried dislodging her seatbelt to follow her, but it wouldn’t budge as it must have become stuck from the crash.

May was still pulling forcefully at the belt as she looked outside at her target once again, who was running away from the street and towards a small wood not far away, probably hoping to find cover there, but then Allison’s escape was suddenly cut short abruptly as something obviously hit her, causing her to fall to the ground, hard.

May groaned as she hit her fist against the door angrily and slumped back into her seat, instantly knowing that she had failed. She recognised a head shot when she saw one, even over this distance, and she knew that Allison was dead and that there was nothing left she could do for her. Taking a deep breath, she pulled out her gun and then adjusted the rear view mirror until she finally spotted the two Hydra vehicles that had come to a halt on the road a considerable distance behind her.

One of the operatives was leaning over the hood of one of the cars with what had to be a sniper rifle, meaning that he was the one who had just killed the woman Agent May had been supposed to protect. She inhaled sharply as she watched him turn the weapon, so that it was facing in her direction, but the man hadn’t taken more than a quick glance at her destroyed car, when he suddenly got back into his, causing May to frown in surprise.

It didn’t seem to make any sense, not with her being on her own and trapped inside this wreckage, but for some reason the two cars turned around and left the scene, as Hydra was apparently content with killing the one person they had come here to take out.

Allison.

After a few more quick pulls her seatbelt finally gave way, and Agent May made her way over to the dead woman lying in the soft field of grass next to the road, her gun in a loose grip at her side, devastated not just by the fact that her mission had been a complete failure, and that Hydra had gotten away with their horrible actions once again, but also by the knowledge of what all of this would do to Coulson.

**To be continued…**


	27. Be Prepared For Anything

Every muscle in her body was tense as Bobbi pushed open the door to the janitor’s office, not sure what to expect. For all she knew, whoever had killed the group of Talbot’s soldiers lying on the floor behind her, could be hiding on the other side of this door, just waiting to ambush her. However, she also couldn’t simply ignore the trail of blood that had led her here, and so she prepared herself for anything as the room in front of her finally came into view.

Bobbi's eyes widened almost unnoticeably and her grip on her raised gun intensified slightly as she suddenly found herself facing an assault rifle aimed straight at her, but neither she nor the man holding it fired or made another move as they both just stared at each other for a few long seconds.

Her opponent was obviously on his own, slumped against the wall opposite from the door, his legs stretched out in front of him. Going by the uniform he was wearing, he was another one of the soldiers Talbot had sent to assist them on this mission, most likely a member of the team outside, and judging by the improvised bandage around his left thigh, he had only barely managed to avoid meeting the same fate as his comrades.

The soldier was looking at Bobbi just as intensely as she was studying him, taking in her appearance, her weapon, and her professional demeanour, clearly trying to decide whether she was a threat or not. In the end it was the specialist, who lowered her gun first, indicating to the injured man to follow her lead.

“Easy there, soldier. I’m here with SHIELD, so we’re on the same side, alright?”

The man kept looking at her down the barrel of his assault rifle for another moment, until he finally lowered his weapon as well, exhaling audibly.

“Thank god, I already thought you were another one of those Hydra bastards. They… they took out my entire team,” he said, his voice filled with anguish as he let his head fall back against the wall.

“Yes, I saw them,” Bobbi replied, taking a moment despite the urgency of the situation to express her condolences. “I’m sorry for what happened to your team, Lt. …”, she trailed off, not knowing the soldier’s name, but being able to tell his rank from the markings on his uniform.

“Lewis,” he supplied for her, grinning weakly as he continued. “And you are Agent…?”

“Morse,” Bobbi replied after hesitating for a moment, deciding that after everything that had happened to him, the lieutenant at least deserved to know her real name.

Before she moved any further into the room, though, the agent turned back to the corridor for a second and gave Hunter a sign that the area was clear. When she faced the wounded soldier again, he was just beginning to push himself up from the floor, obviously eager to get the hell out of this place. However, even though Bobbi hurried forward quickly to help him up, she had to admit that she would have preferred it, if he had remained in his earlier position, as she had no intention of taking Lt. Lewis with her.

Alex, Coulson’s informant, was the one she and Hunter had come here to protect and Bobbi knew that the soldier’s injury would slow them all down, putting them all at risk and potentially endangering the entire mission.

She didn’t like the idea of leaving the man behind, but it wasn’t her job to protect him, so in the end the choice wasn’t hard for her to make. Bobbi was well aware that she had never had a problem with making the tough decisions in the field and she knew that the only hard part of this one would be to convince Hunter that this was the only reasonable thing to do.

* * *

Skye let go of Nina’s arm once the two women had made it out of the apartment and into the corridor, and gripped the rifle she had taken from the Hydra soldier guarding her more firmly as she quickly looked left and right to see if the air was clear.

The formerly spotless hallway of the expensive apartment building was showing disturbing similarities to a war zone by now, with bullet holes everywhere in the walls and a few dead bodies lying on the ground. All of them were Hydra members, though, and it took Skye a moment to realise where Talbot’s men had gone, but then she noticed the two black piles of ash on the ground close to the door to Nina’s apartment and her expression hardened.

She had seen the footage of the attack on the UN, which Hydra had tried to blame on SHIELD, more than enough times to recognise the remains of a splinter bomb attack when she saw it.

As she turned towards the elevator at the end of the corridor, from where she and Trip had come earlier, the agent quickly noticed that they actually weren’t alone, that there were still too Hydra foot soldiers left standing. They had obviously not been expecting any more resistance coming from this direction, however, and one of them was busy doing something to the door leading to the stairwell, so they didn’t become aware of Skye until it was too late.

Once the young woman had taken both of them out with her assault rifle, she and Nina hurried forward, eager to finally get out of the building, while the civilian kept looking around frantically, still completely terrified.

“Weren’t there more soldiers with you before? I thought they were waiting here in the hallway, where did they go?” she asked, clearly startled by the fact that the men she had seen earlier seemed to have simply vanished, but Skye just shook her head as she kept heading towards the exit.

“There were more, but…”, she trailed off for a moment and sighed deeply before she continued. “They’re dead. Trust me, you don’t want to know what happened.” The agent fell silent again once they were in front of the elevator, practically standing over the dead bodies of the men she had just shot, as she needed a moment to decide what to do next.

If Hydra had taken out their support on the ground floor as well, taking the elevator back down there would easily make them sitting ducks, but now that they were closer to the door to the stairwell, she could see that it was rigged with a few bars of C4, eliminating it as an escape route as well. Skye did have a basic understanding of bombs and explosives by now, thanks to May’s extensive training, but that didn’t mean that she wanted to try her luck with disarming this device right now, especially not under these circumstances.

She looked at Nina for a brief moment, doing her best to calm the petrified young woman down, before she reached to her ear piece to activate her comm once more.

“Coulson?” the agent called out tensely, but there was no answer. “Coulson, are you there?” She waited a few more seconds for any kind of reply, but quickly had to realise that none was coming.

“Damn it, Hydra must be blocking our frequencies,” she explained briefly, her frustration obvious. “If I had been able to reach our engineer back at the base, he might have been able to talk me through disarming this thing,” Skye went on, pointing at the explosive device at the door in front of her, “but without him it would take forever _and_ I might just blow us up by accident,” she admitted with a somewhat crooked grin.

She looked over at Nina at this point, but the young woman’s attention wasn’t focused on Skye at the moment, but instead on the display above the elevator, an uneasy look on her face.

“Is that your team or are more of _them_ coming?”, she asked, glancing down at the dead men lying next to her and Skye.

At this, the agent followed her line of sight, and realised that the elevator was moving, coming up from the lobby, most likely headed to this floor. She couldn’t answer the other woman’s question, however, as she had no idea if there would be friends or foes coming at them from behind these metal doors and as they had no way of finding out before it was too late, she knew that they couldn’t afford to take that risk.

“I don’t know,” she admitted truthfully, before turning towards Nina once again. “Is there another way out of here?” she asked curtly, willing herself to remain calm and in control of the situation.

“Yes, I think there’s a fire escape at the other end of the corridor,” the young woman replied with a quick nod. Skye knew that they didn’t have any more time to waste, and so she didn’t hesitate to grab Nina’s arm once again as she started running towards their new exit.

 

* * *

When Hunter heard Bobbi calling out to him, telling him that there was no imminent danger anymore, he looked over at Alex, scrutinising the young man for a brief moment, before he nodded to him encouragingly.

“Alright, you heard her. Are you ready to go?” Alex responded to Hunter’s gaze with a nervous smile, nodding quickly.

“Yeah, of course. I’m good,” he replied, although his words sounded less than convincing and caused the mercenary to place one hand on his shoulder in a supportive manner.

“Look, mate, there’s no shame in being scared, got it? It just means that you’re smart enough to realise when you’re in danger. We’re going to go and catch up with Bobbi now, and apparently there are going to be some dead bodies there, but whatever happens, I’ll be right next to you, so you’ll be alright.”

Hunter looked at the young man for another long moment, his brow furrowing slightly as he noticed his still obvious fear. Grabbing his own weapon with both hands again, he gave Alex a questioning look as he continued.

“Where is your knife, the one you had earlier?”, the mercenary asked, prompting the young man to reach into one of his pockets.

“Here,” he answered quickly, holding the Swiss army knife out on his open palm.

“Good,” Hunter replied, nodding approvingly as he started to move in the direction Bobbi had gone before. “Now flip it open and keep it that way. Until this is all over you have to be prepared for anything, and that includes being ready to protect yourself should you have to.” He tilted his head slightly, telling Alex to follow him, which the young man finally did, his right hand clutching his weapon tightly.

As they stepped out of the corridor and into the foyer leading to the back door, Hunter swallowed heavily the second his eyes fell on the dead group of soldiers lying on the ground.

He wasn’t in the military anymore, he had left that life behind years ago, but still he could never completely shake that connection he felt to those who chose to wear the uniform, no matter which flag they were fighting for. Only yesterday, Bobbi had told him – accused him, really – that he would always be a soldier at heart, and right now he knew just how spot on she had been with those words.

Hunter gripped his weapon even more tightly, his jaw clenching, as he looked down at the dead men, adding them to the list of things Hydra would have to pay for. Things he would _make_ them pay for.

“Hunter!“ Bobbi’s voice suddenly disrupted his dark thoughts, and the mercenary looked up, spotting his ex-wife in the janitor’s office only a few meters away from him. To his surprise, however, he quickly realised that she wasn’t alone, and his eyes fell immediately on the obviously wounded man next to her.

After making sure that Alex was following him closely, Hunter walked into the small room himself now, just as Bobbi guided the soldier she had been supporting to sit on the desk in the centre, so he could get his weight off his injured leg. The mercenary briefly glanced down at the field bandage around the man’s left upper thigh and noticed the blood surrounding the wound, before he looked back up, facing the soldier directly.

“What happened here? And where is the Hydra unit that did this?”, Hunter asked brusquely, pointing at the dead men behind him. Lt. Lewis scrutinised him for a noticeably long moment before he finally answered, his tone professional, but slightly strained from the pain of his injury.

“My team was positioned outside the building to make sure that Hydra couldn’t get in, and to keep your exit route clear, but then we were attacked by a group of heavily armed hostiles – Hydra obviously – and had to fall back. It was as if they appeared out of nowhere; we lost two men in that first assault. We pulled them back into the building, but there was nothing left we could do for them.” The soldier fell silent for a moment at this, apparently needing to compose himself again before continuing his report on what had happened to his team.

“Did you call for backup?”, Bobbi asked, listening closely to the lieutenant’s story.

“We tried, but none of our radios were functioning,” Lewis replied immediately, shaking his head.

Hunter and Bobbi exchanged a brief glance at this, before the latter activated her own earpiece and tried to reach Coulson back at the base, but to no avail.

“Great!”, Hunter remarked sarcastically. “This mission really is getting better by the second. The Hydra team, where did they go after they took out the others?” he asked now, needing to know their enemies’ location.

“After they had overwhelmed us, using some kind of flash grenade to stun my team, they just shot all of us down, but I was lucky that they were in a hurry to keep moving, that’s why they didn’t check to see if anyone of us was still alive. I think about half of their men went back outside to hold their position there, while the others went up to the second floor, apparently searching for somebody.” At this point his eyes shifted over to Alex, a knowing glint flashing in them briefly.

“But obviously you found that somebody first,” Lt. Lewis finished, giving the young man a small grin.

“Yeah, we did,” Hunter replied, looking over at the young man with an almost fond expression, “and if Hydra wants to get to him, they’ll have to go through us first.” He wasn’t exactly sure when it had happened in the short few minutes he knew him, but somehow he had really started to like Alex, and his strong urge to protect him was going beyond wanting to follow his orders or throw a wrench in Hydra’s plans. Hunter mused that it might have something to do with the fact that the young man somehow reminded him a little of Fitz with how he had proven to be smart and resourceful despite the overwhelming situation, but for whatever reason, he actually cared for the kid and would hate to see him get hurt.

“I see you SHIELD people still take that ‘protecting’ part seriously, huh?” Lt. Lewis now replied, getting Hunter’s attention back, and actually prompting a faint smile to appear on the mercenary’s face, but before he had the chance to reply anything, Bobbi suddenly interrupted him, a tense expression on her face.

“Hunter, can we talk outside for a moment?” The mercenary was obviously caught off guard by that request, but then he quickly nodded, and, after telling Alex to stand close to the door so he could keep an eye on him, followed the blond agent out into the foyer.

“Alright, I don’t think we should stick around here much longer, so what’s the plan?” Hunter asked, once the two were out of earshot of the others, not giving Bobbi the chance to speak first. “I say we go the direct way and take on the Hydra team outside. With the two of us and Lt. Lewis, we’ll be able to handle them and keep Alex safe at the same time, we just have to be quick before the rest of their team gets back here.”

The specialist seemed to consider his proposition for a moment, but the thin line of her lips was telling Hunter immediately that she didn’t agree with his plan. When Bobbi finally spoke, her voice sounded entirely professional, betraying none of the concern that Hunter could see in her expression so clearly.

“Or we could leave the building through the second back entrance Alex mentioned earlier. Lewis said the Hydra team went up to the second floor; if we hurry, I’m sure we’ll be able to avoid them completely and get out of here without having to take the risk of a fight at all.”

Hunter’s brow became increasingly furrowed as he listened to his ex-wife’s explanation, and he shook his head briefly as he finally had the chance to reply.

“Yeah, but with the lieutenant in tow we’re hardly gonna be able to hurry, you realise that, don’t you?” he pointed out, his disagreement more than evident in both his expression and the tone of his voice. He looked at Bobbi for a brief moment, but when he noticed the uncomfortable look on her face, his eyes widened in understanding.

“Of course you do. That’s why you don’t want to take him with us.”

Bobbi sighed at his observation, knowing what the mercenary had to be thinking about her right now and not liking it one bit. She hated how she always seemed to end up being the bad guy when the two of them had a disagreement.

“I would _love_ to take him with us, Hunter, but he’s not our mission. We already have a target to protect and with his injured leg, Lt. Lewis is just going to slow us down. We’ll send help as soon as we’re back in the Quinjet, but right now he’s not our priority.” The agent was looking at her ex with a firm expression, making it clear that she had made her decision on the matter, but Hunter was having none of it as he replied in a tense voice.

“There are still Hydra operatives in this building, who could come back here any moment and find him, so I don’t care how good your arguments sound, we’re not going to leave him behind, understood? For all we know, Captain Grayson and her men could be dead by now as well, just like Lt. Lewis’ team, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to see anyone else die because of Hydra today.” He sighed heavily and looked over at the dead men on the ground before continuing.

“These soldiers were our backup, Bob, so a part of this is on us, too. We made a mistake earlier when we didn’t go out to help Captain Grayson and her team, no matter what she said, and I’m not going to leave anyone else behind. So this isn’t up for debate, alright, we’re taking the guy with us,” Hunter finished with a grim expression, then turned his back on Bobbi and headed back into the janitor’s office, where Lt. Lewis was still sitting on the table, resting his leg. He had taken off his helmet for the moment and was holding it in one hand while he was running the other through his short reddish-brown hair absentmindedly.

The agent exhaled sharply as she looked after Hunter, knowing all too well how stubborn her ex-husband could be once he had made up his mind about something. Even if she could manage to persuade him to leave the wounded soldier behind, doing so would certainly take up a lot more time than they could afford to spare right now, meaning that she had no choice but to follow Hunter’s decision and help him bring Lt. Lewis along on their way out of here.

She just hoped that her concerns would turn out to be wrong.

* * *

Skye and Nina were just about to pass the door to the now completely destroyed apartment again, in which they had been attacked just a few minutes ago, and for a moment the agent was torn whether she shouldn’t tell the young woman to keep going towards the fire escape on her own. She knew that Trip was counting on her to complete this mission, and to protect Nina while he was dealing with the leader of the Hydra team that had come to kill her, but a part of her wanted to go back inside the apartment regardless to help him.

Before she could make up her mind about that, however, her thoughts were interrupted abruptly as the fight between Trip and the Hydra operative was suddenly relocated out into the corridor, when the specialist was basically flung through the doorway, crashing forcefully against the wall opposite from it.

His face was battered and bruised, and while he was quickly staggering to his feet again, Skye instantly knew that he wasn't going to win this confrontation. Trip’s attacker came out into the hallway now, too, and while he was obviously in a better condition than his opponent, Skye noticed with a strange satisfaction, that he must have suffered a number of blows as well, going by the beginning bruising on his face.

His appearance was so abrupt, however, that Skye couldn't react quickly enough, and before she knew what had happened, the man had grabbed Trip again, knocking him against the wall one more time, before he punched him in the face so hard that the sound of the blow resonated sickeningly in the pit of Skye's stomach.

She wasn't really surprised that Trip slummed to the ground after this, unconscious, but this time Skye was prepared to defend herself and Nina. She lifted the rifle in her hands up and fired a few rounds at the large man in front of her, hitting him square in the chest just as he was turning around to face her. While it did manage to slow him down, however, it wasn't enough to stop him, and a second later he was advancing on the agent with a frightening determination, sending a rush of dread up her spine.

She realised that he had to be wearing a bullet-proof vest underneath his suit, but even then it was both impressive and almost terrifying to see him shrugging off both the force and the pain of the impact so easily. She didn’t get the chance to fire at her opponent again, though, to find a less protected spot to aim at, as he had already crossed the small distance between them and was wresting the weapon from her hands with quick precision.

Without thinking about it, Skye pushed Nina away from her, indicating for her to keep running.

"Go! Get to the fire escape, I'll be right behind you," she shouted as she concentrated on all the hours of training with May and attacked her opponent, trying not to let herself be intimidated by the way he was towering above her.

The frightened young woman nodded briefly, and quickly moved past Skye and the Hydra operative, away from both them and the unknown threat that might still be coming at them soon, once the elevator arrived on this floor.

Despite her training, however, Skye quickly had to realised to her absolute horror, that she was no match for her opponent, who blocked each of her kicks and punches, and when he finally grabbed her by the throat and slammed her against the wall hard, she just barely managed to cling to her consciousness as the world around her started to spin, the lights fading slightly.

The broad-shouldered man was still holding her up against the wall as he pulled out a gun with his free hand and, after giving Skye a cold look, turned his head in Nina’s direction and shot. He hadn’t aimed to kill, though, and the bullet hit the young woman’s leg instead, sending her crashing to the floor with a pained scream.

At this point, the Hydra agent let go of Skye again, and she collapsed to the floor, unable to get up again despite her best efforts. She could only watch helplessly as her opponent quickly made his way down the corridor towards Nina, where he knelt down beside her. For a moment Skye thought that he was going to choke her again as he laid one arm around her throat, but what followed was far worse.

One quick movement, that was all it took, and despite her woozy state, Skye heard the sickening sound all too clearly as the still completely silent man snapped Nina’s neck without a second’s hesitation.

After that, he got up again quickly and left towards the fire exit, but the young agent barely noticed him leave, as her eyes were still fixated on the woman she had been supposed to protect, and who had trusted her to do just that.

She also didn’t notice as the elevator behind her finally opened, and that there was a group of armed men spreading out through the corridor now. Only when one of them kneeled down next to her to check her condition, did she look up long enough to realise that it was one of Talbot’s men, here to serve as her backup.

_If she had waited just a few more seconds…_

**To be continued…**


	28. Don’t Die Out There

Hunter knew that something was wrong.

He kept looking around almost frantically, searching for an ambush, and while he was obviously well aware how ridiculous it was to actively be _wishing_ for a Hydra attack, right now he might have actually preferred it to this uncertainty and the constant threat looming over all of them.

They had made their way out of the backdoor of the university building by now, and Hunter was getting increasingly nervous, as the Hydra team that was supposedly out here, still hadn’t shown itself. He could tell that Bobbi, who was leading the way, ready to take any opponents head on, was feeling the same way, and while he was glad of course that they might be able to avoid a fire fight, something about this whole situation just didn’t feel right to him.

Hunter was bringing up the rear of their little group once more, and while Bobbi was at the head, Lt. Lewis was walking between them, one arm wrapped around Alex’s shoulder, who had offered to support the injured soldier, to make sure they could move as quickly as possible. The young man was still clutching his Swiss army knife tightly in his right hand, but at this point he seemed to be somewhat more at ease, probably because there was another trained fighter next to him now, ready to protect him.

“So, you’ve been doing this a lot?”, Lt. Lewis suddenly asked quietly, disrupting the tense silence.

“Doing what?” Hunter asked in return, his gaze focusing on the soldier for a moment, before he went back to carefully scanning their surroundings.

“Fighting against Hydra,” the injured man quickly elaborated.

“You could say that, yeah,” the mercenary replied curtly, but even though his reluctance to discuss this topic was rather evident, Lewis kept talking, ignoring the tone in the other man’s voice.

“Got any advice on how to handle them?”

The mercenary hesitated a very long moment to reply to this question, his expression darkening visibly as he contemplated his answer.

“Yeah, I have some advice for you,” he finally said, his hold on his weapon tightening. “If you see one of them, put a bullet in their head. Don’t hesitate.”

Lt. Lewis actually paused at this, turning his head to look at Hunter, and even Bobbi, who was overhearing their conversation, couldn’t help but be obviously taken aback by her ex-husband’s harsh words.

“That sounds… personal,” the lieutenant finally remarked, eying Hunter for a long moment. “I assume there is a story there.”

“There is,” the mercenary agreed, taking another long look around their surroundings, “and you’re right, it’s personal.”

“Alright, got it,” Lt. Lewis nodded understandingly, finally dropping the subject. Or at least he did with Hunter.

“And you,” he continued, addressing Bobbi this time, “what’s your take on Hydra. Any insights?”

The agent turned around to him for a brief moment and looked at the soldier, who was holding her gaze unwaveringly, before she focused back on the path ahead of her, keeping her eyes open for an ambush.

“No,” she replied curtly, not really liking the way Lewis seemed to be questioning her and Hunter. After that a few seconds passed by in silence, until something suddenly seemed to occur to the agent and her brow furrowed slightly as she turned her head to the side to glance back in the soldier’s direction.

“Why do you think I would have any ‘insights’ into Hydra anyway?”, she asked, wondering about his choice of words, but before Lewis had the chance to answer, a bullet suddenly cut through the air right next to Bobbi, demanding her full attention and causing her and the others to rush towards a nearby small mural for cover.

Hunter felt the adrenaline pumping through his veins as he pulled Alex and Lt. Lewis along, all three of them crashing to the ground once they had reached the stone wall. He quickly looked over at the two men and Bobbi to see if any of them had been hit, exhaling audibly as they all seemed to be unharmed.

“Are you alright, mate?”, he asked Alex, who was sitting right next to him, keeping his head low and covering it with his hands. He waited with concern until the young man nodded in reply, before focusing on his ex-wife. “Bob?”

“I’m fine, Hunter,” she replied as she glanced over the top of the merely a few feet high wall, trying to make out their opponents.

“Can you see anyone?” she finally asked in frustration as she couldn’t find the Hydra team’s position, but after Hunter took a brief look himself, he just shook his head negative as well.

“No, it’s like they wanted to pin us down here, but they’re not actually trying to take us out,” he replied, a slightly perplexed look on his face as he tried to understand their enemies’ reasoning.

“Maybe they want to keep us here until their backup team arrives,” Lewis proposed suddenly and Hunter and Bobbi exchanged a quick worried glance, realising that this sounded like the most likely explanation for their current situation.

“Meaning, we either take them out quickly, or we’re going to be surrounded any minute now,” the mercenary pointed out, sighing deeply.

Bobbi’s expression became grim as she looked at the three men next to her, obviously trying to come up with a strategy, and once she had made up her mind, her eyes focused on Hunter. When she spoke, the tone of her voice was making it more than clear that she wouldn’t allow any objections.

“You stay here, keep Alex safe and watch my back. I’ll move to the right and circle back, that way I’ll find any Hydra teams out there and take them out.”

Knowing how good Bobbi was at this sort of mission and that he would keep an eye on her every second she was out there, Hunter swallowed his concern for her and any objection he might have had and simply nodded in reply as the specialist prepared herself.

“Alright, got it. And Bobbi,” she looked back at him at this point, a faint smile already forming on her lips, as she knew exactly what he was going to say. “Don’t die out there.”

 

* * *

 

Hunter was kneeling behind the low wall now, his weapon in position to take out any Hydra members he could get in his crosshairs, while he was watching Bobbi make her way from cover to cover, circling around the open area in front of them, so far without having encountered any resistance. Alex was still crouching next to him, simply doing his best to stay in cover, and Lt. Lewis was keeping an eye on their surroundings, making sure that they weren’t taken by surprise while Hunter was focused on covering his ex-wife’s back.

There was complete silence between them for a few moments, until the lieutenant spoke up once more, his voice low, but still surprisingly calm considering their situation.

“You know, there’s one thing I’ve always admired about SHIELD, and that’s the sheer number of highly trained and extremely dedicated people you have working for you.”

Hunter wasn’t quite sure where Lewis was going with this, but despite the fact that he could vouch for the accuracy of that statement by now, after having spent months working with SHIELD, as a former soldier himself, he simply couldn’t just let it stand like that.

“Yeah, well, so does the military,” he replied, all the while not leaving Bobbi out of his sight even for a moment.

“Maybe, yes, but I don’t think quite to that extend. You’ve been military yourself, right?”, Lt. Lewis now asked, prompting Hunter to shoot him a surprised glance.

“The way you move in combat,” the soldier elaborated, indicating the mercenary’s position, “it’s pretty telling actually. I guess you never forget your basic training.”

“No, I guess not,” Hunter agreed, focusing back on Bobbi, the slightest hint of confusion in his voice at the lieutenant’s choice of topic.

As he didn’t really have anything to say to any of this, Alex remained completely silent, just listening to the conversation around him. Hunter had the impression that it was actually slightly reassuring him, to see that the two combat experts were calm enough to have a chat with each other, even in a situation like this, and so he decided not to tell Lewis to be quiet just yet as the soldier kept talking.

“I’d say to find an organisation that can rival SHIELD in terms of talent, you would probably have to look at Hydra. I’ve heard a lot of agents switched sides once they were revealed to the world,” he pointed out, prompting Hunter to scowl irritatedly.

“Considering all those people were willing to work for Hydra in the first place, I’d say it wasn’t much of a loss,” he replied honestly, still not facing the soldier.

Lt. Lewis was leaning back against the wall at this point, looking first at Hunter and then at Alex for a long moment, his expression unreadable. He rested his assault rifle on his legs for a few seconds as he went on to check his sidearm, a thoughtful look in his eyes when he continued.

“Yes, I guess it really was about time that the truth came out, and of course I can understand the hatred towards anyone working for Hydra, especially if you were close to people who did.” Hunter’s jaw clenched tightly at this as he thought back to his father and the fallout of his past cooperation with the ruthless organisation, even if the scientist hadn’t been aware of it at the time.

While he himself had obviously not been that much affected by the revelation that Hydra had been acting from within SHIELD all these years, he found Lt. Lewis’ sudden fascination with the topic strangely grating, and so he replied to him in an annoyed tone.

“You know that we could be attacked any second now, right? So how about you shut up and concentrate, alright, mate?”

The soldier completely ignored the order, however, and kept talking, his voice suddenly sounding utterly relaxed, the underlying strain of both the stress of the situation and the pain from his injury gone entirely.

“Don’t get me wrong, I can’t blame Hydra’s heads for wanting to remain in the shadows for so long – it is a great way to stay ahead of your enemies after all – but sooner or later you just have to reveal yourself, or else, where is the fun in all that?”

Hunter’s body was moving before his brain had even finished processing the words. He was spinning around towards Lt. Lewis’ position, grabbing his assault rifle tightly, but before he could manage to pin the man down in his crosshairs, his eyes fell on the handgun aimed right at him. Just a fraction of a second later, he felt a stunning blow hitting him, causing his weapon to drop from his hands and him to collapse to the ground without so much as making a sound.

The mercenary ended up lying on his back, his head tilted slightly to the side, so he could see what was happening next to him, but without being able to do anything, as he simply couldn't move. His entire body was paralysed and completely numb, with him being unable to feel a thing. Whatever weapon Lt. Lewis – if that was even his real name – had used on him, it was forcing him now to just lie there and watch what his attacker was going to do next, powerless to stop him.

As Alex had watched Lt. Lewis shooting Hunter, obviously unable to tell what kind of weapon he was using, and that it wasn’t lethal, he had let out a startled cry, before he tried to move away from the soldier, holding his pocket knife out in front of him, willing to defend himself. The man only grinned slightly in response, however, before moving forward in one frighteningly quick movement, grabbing the young man’s wrist, and twisting his hand around forcefully.

The soldier didn’t break eye contact with Alex for even a second as he pushed his hand, which was still holding the Swiss army knife, back, ultimately stabbing the young man with his own weapon.

As he looked down at the blood running from the wound, Alex whimpered slightly in pain, earning himself a rather unsatisfied look from his attacker.

“I’m sorry, but I am trying to get someone’s attention here, so if you could maybe just be a little louder?” he asked, before twisting the knife until Alex was screaming at the top of his lungs for a moment.

“Thank you, I think that will do,” Lewis remarked, pulling the knife out from the wound, allowing the blood to flow freely. He closed the weapon and stashed it in one of his pockets, before leaning over Alex and pushing him to the ground, where he held him in place, but without hurting him any further.

The young man was already too far gone to actually realise what was going on any longer, slipping in and out of consciousness from the pain and blood loss, but Hunter was still wide awake, although completely unable to do anything to stop what was happening in front of him. He couldn’t even so much as blink to show that he was still alive, and when Bobbi suddenly entered his field of vision a few moments later, obviously drawn back by Alex’s scream, gun at the ready, and her eyes landed on him, he could see her immediately arriving at the worst possible conclusion.

“Hunter!“ she cried out in shock, freezing in her movements as she didn’t even bother to head into cover. “What–”, the agent began to ask as she focused on Lt. Lewis, who was still crouching over Alex’s body, giving the impression that he was actually trying to save the wounded young man instead of having been the one, who had injured him in the first place. He quickly interrupted her, however, playing his role from before once again, at least for another few moments.

“Hydra,” he pressed out, his voice tense, making it seem as if he was hurt as well. “Didn’t see them coming.” He was obviously keeping his answers short now, not wanting to give away anything at this point, but as Alex suddenly opened his eyes once again, and seemed to be about to say something, his attacker knew that he couldn’t afford to lose another second to take out his final opponent.

“The kid’s badly hurt, can you give me a hand here?” he asked, glancing back at Bobbi, but while he did manage to pull the specialist out of her stupor, she actually remained entirely focused on Hunter, holstering her weapon as she headed towards him, obviously about to check his condition.

The second her gun had left her hands, though, Lewis raised his own, which he had kept concealed so far, and shot the agent, causing her to drop to the ground as unceremoniously as Hunter had before.

With Bobbi out of the way, the man, who had just singlehandedly laid waste to their mission, finally dropped all pretence, starting with getting up from his position on the ground, removing his helmet in the process. His earlier limp was completely gone now, and while he ignored the bandage around his leg for the moment, it was perfectly clear that it was in fact not covering up any injury at all, and that that was just one more of the things he had been faking.

Hunter kept watching the red headed man intently, and the nonchalant way in which he finally began to talk now instantly made his loathing for him even stronger.

“Mr. Hunter, Agent Morse, I apologise that I kept this little charade up for this long, but I have to admit that I was kind of curious about you two and didn’t want to miss the opportunity to at least talk to you for a moment, before you find out who I am. I guess any future exchanges between us will turn out a little less light-hearted than our chats so far, but I guess at least now we can actually be honest with each other.”

The man fell silent for a long moment after this as he was simply looking at the three bodies on the ground, but as he continued, it was Bobbi, who he was concentrating on. He even stepped over to her and crouched down next to her, pushing away the strands of hair that had fallen into her face.

“Because you see, if there is one thing I don’t like, it is people pretending to be someone they’re not. Or, perhaps more specifically, people inside my organisation, inside _Hydra_ , pretending to be someone they’re not. I don’t mind a good enemy, but a traitor, that is someone I simply cannot stand.”

Hunter wanted to break every bone in the Hydra operative’s body for so much as touching Bobbi, but as he listened to his barely concealed threat, considering that his ex had previously acted as a mole inside Hydra, his blood ran cold, horror washing over him once more at the realisation of just how helpless he was at the moment.

The situation became even more unbearable, though, as the red headed man continued, his words cutting into Hunter like a knife.

“I’m not entirely sure if you’re aware of who I am, but even though my work usually speaks for itself, given the fact that I know perfectly well who you two are, I think it is about time that I introduce myself as well. My name is David Hawkins. I know that some people call me the Bloodhound, as I have a knack for finding my next targets wherever they hide,” he explained, his hand grabbing the back of Bobbi’s head, “but considering the circumstances, I thought you might like to know my real name. Not that it’s going to do you much good, obviously. I mean, your father knew my name for years,” he said, looking over at Hunter now, “I even told him that I wasn’t going to forget about him and he still didn’t see my men coming, did he?” Hawkins asked, one eyebrow raised questioningly.

Of course the mercenary wasn’t able to give any kind of reply, despite the hatred burning inside of him, and so the Hydra agent was already about to focus back on Bobbi, when a movement not far from him suddenly got his attention.

Hunter could see that Alex was conscious again, and was slowly inching towards the rifle he had dropped earlier, but before the young man could even get anywhere near it, Hawkins had walked over to him almost lazily and stepped on his hand, before kicking the weapon away, far out of his reach.

After that, he ignored the injured student once again, this time focusing on Hunter. He leaned down to the mercenary and grabbed the front of his tactical uniform with both hands, before dragging him closer towards the stone wall next to them and propping the mercenary up against it, so he could face him properly as he now crouched down in front of him.

“You know, despite my personal feelings about your pretty ex-wife, I’m actually not here to kill either of you. I’m here, because I want something back that is mine, something that first your father and now you stole from me.”

Hunter realised immediately what Hawkins was talking about, but as he was completely paralysed, he had no way of replying to his opponent.

“Years ago, Robert Hunter apparently copied a whole bunch of data about the project he was working on for me, and even though I know it took me a while to get back to that, just when I had sent my men to retrieve it, you and your lovely ex had to get in their way, and took what didn’t belong to you. Now your father already paid for his actions, but as you barely knew what you were doing, I am going to give you a chance to make this right again.

You have until tomorrow to hand over every single file you found at and took from his house. If you don’t, Director Coulson is going to receive another list from me, and this time there will be the names of proper SHIELD agents on it, not just some easily replaceable informants. But trust me, they’ll die just as quickly.”

Hunter felt his anger burning in his chest at Hawkins’ assumption that just because the people his men had killed today hadn’t been agents, they had somehow been worth less, or that their deaths had been any less hard on Coulson, but once again, he couldn’t do anything to articulate his outrage. As the Hydra operative finally continued, the mercenary would have given anything to at least be able to spit in his face, but he could do nothing except listen to his cold-hearted words and take the humiliating treatment.

“I know Coulson isn’t going to like this deal, and although he will agree to it in the end, because he won’t be willing to sacrifice anyone else, he will surely try to double-cross me by sending in one of his specialists to the handoff. But you can tell him that that is not going to work,” Hawkins instructed with a cruel smile. “I’ll send the coordinates for our meeting, but I want _you_ to be the one, who delivers the files to me in person. You were the one, who took them, so now you’ll be a good boy and bring them back to me, alright?”, he finished, slapping Hunter’s cheek lightly in a condescending manner, making his head loll to the side so that he ended up looking directly at Alex.

Hawkins grinned at the mercenary one last time, before finally getting back to his feet, looking at the scene in front of him. He was obviously about to walk away, but then he stopped once more and looked down at Hunter again, addressing him almost as an afterthought.

“You know, I’m really glad that we had this brief opportunity to talk to each other. It’s always good to know your enemy, get a sense of what they’re capable of, and I have to say, I think I like your attitude. ‘If you see one of them, put a bullet in their head’”, he repeated Hunter’s words from earlier, while looking down at him almost appreciatively. “Sounds like a man after my own heart.”

With that he pulled out a different sidearm, released the safety of the weapon, and shot Alex, who was lying only a few feet in front of Hunter, straight in the forehead, before the mercenary had so much as the chance to realise what was happening.

“Tell Director Coulson what I said, and remind him to pick his battles wisely, because this is not one he is going to win. His fifteen informants are already dead, and while I might not have killed any of his agents so far, he shouldn’t think that I don’t stand to my principles just as much as he does to his.” At this point Hawkins raised his weapon again slightly, aiming it in Bobbi’s direction this time.

He pulled the trigger once more, but even though his assertion that he didn’t want to kill any SHIELD agents today seemed to be true, as the bullet only hit her lower leg, far away from any vital organs, Hunter’s position didn’t allow him to actually see Bobbi, causing his heart to skip a beat in fear.

Now Hawkins finally turned around to leave, but then he stopped himself once again, an almost charming grin on his lips as he faced Hunter one final time.

“Oh, and please pass on my congratulations to Coulson for his appointment as director. You can say what you want about Fury, but his footsteps surely aren’t easy to follow in and from what I hear, Coulson is doing quite well for himself. I’m almost impressed.”

He gave Hunter a small nod as goodbye, his expression entirely light-hearted, before finally walking away from the scene, leaving an utterly horrified mercenary behind, who kept staring at the dead young man in front of him, unable to turn his head away, or even to close his eyes, as he was still completely paralysed.

He had failed – again – and again somebody had died on his watch, somebody he had been supposed to protect, and while he wanted to scream, to shout, to go after Hawkins and take him out with his bare hands, he could do nothing but sit here and look at his latest loss. Hydra’s latest victory.

The fact that Hunter couldn’t be sure about what had happened to Bobbi, whether she was dead or not, or what else Hawkins had done to her was making his helplessness even more unbearable, the worst possible scenarios playing out in his head, clawing at his sanity.

By the time he heard several footsteps approaching, the mercenary was so caught up in all the images of blood and death surrounding him, that he barely heard Captain Grayson’s voice as she spoke up, her tone reflecting the horror he felt himself.

“Oh god, we’re too late. Sergeant, call a medic!“ she instructed one of her men as she kneeled down next to Hunter, looking at him with a sad expression.

Not that it mattered, really, or that it would change anything at this point, but the mercenary suddenly realised that she thought he was dead, too, which wasn’t really surprising, given his current state. He was still paralysed obviously, but he could tell that the effect of the toxin wouldn’t last for very much longer, and with an immense effort, he finally managed to blink once, startling the captain.

“Holy shit,” she exclaimed suddenly, moving away from him in shock. “He’s still alive! Check the other agent, and get our medic here ASAP,” she called out once more, before focusing back on Hunter.

“Looks like we didn’t lose everyone after all.” There was a small hint of relief in her voice, but even as the commotion around them intensified, assuring Hunter that Bobbi was alive as well, when he was lifted onto a gurney a few minutes later, the only thing he could think of was how incredibly wrong Captain Grayson had been.

They _had_ lost everyone.

Everyone they had been supposed to protect was dead and Hydra had won.

Again.

**To be continued…**


	29. Spared

“I’m afraid this is going to hurt for a while,” Agent Simmons announced sympathetically, as she finished wrapping a tight bandage around Trip’s chest to stabilise his two cracked ribs. “Of course I could give you some medication against the worst pain for now,” she offered, but the specialist shook his head, even though he obviously quickly regretted the sudden movement.

“Nah, Doc, I’m good,” he replied with a weak lopsided grin, but continued in a more serious tone as he noticed Jemma’s sceptical expression. “Honestly, I’m just glad I’ll live, ‘cause that’s a hell of a lot more than I expected when things started to go south out there.” He broke off for a moment to readjust the ice pack he was pressing against one side of his face, and then heaved a heavy sigh before he went on.

“That big Hydra guy who took me out, he could have killed me. Could have killed her, too,” he added, tilting his head slightly in Skye’s direction, who was sitting cross-legged on a revolving chair next to his bed in the infirmary section of the lab, “he even looked like he really wanted to, but for some reason he didn’t.”

“He had no problem killing Nina, though,” Skye pointed out in a sad tone as she was looking down at her hands in her lap. Unlike Trip, she had already been discharged from Jemma’s care, but had decided to stick around until her partner on this latest mission had been treated as well.

A few feet beside her, right next to the doorway to the rest of the lab, Fitz was standing silently, knowing that he wasn’t really of much use in this situation, but wanting to stay close to his team mates anyway, after seeing them injured.

“Yeah, Hydra really went through with their threat big time,” Trip agreed with the young woman. “Any word on Hunter and Bobbi yet?” he asked, looking from Jemma to Skye and Fitz and back again.

“Well, Agent May took the Bus to pick them up a while ago, so they should be back here soon,” the scientist replied. “Going by what Talbot’s people reported, I only know that the two have been somehow incapacitated as well, but that they didn’t sustain any life-threatening injuries. And, well, that the young man they had been sent to protect didn’t make it.”

“Three tries, three failures,” Skye muttered glumly, summing up the team’s futile efforts to save Coulson’s informants. “And I don’t even want to count how many of Talbot’s men were killed trying to help us.”

“Eighteen so far,” the director’s voice suddenly came through the door from the main part of the lab, where he had just walked in, startling the three agents. “Plus one critically injured and another MIA, also presumed dead,” Coulson counted, the look on his face tired and weary as he spoke.

“Damn,” Trip replied as he looked over at his boss, not really knowing what else to say under the circumstances.

“Yeah…”, Coulson agreed with a slight nod, at an equal loss for words in light of the sheer magnitude of the disaster the team’s latest mission had turned into.

“That is horrible,” Jemma pointed out with an appalled look on her face, “and it shows how lucky we were that we haven’t lost any of our own agents as well.”

“You really think this was luck?” Fitz objected quietly, indicating Skye and Trip and their injuries. “You really think Hydra couldn’t have… couldn’t have killed them if they had wanted to?” His eyes met Jemma’s and for a moment the two scientists just looked at each other in silence, the awkwardness of their current relationship more than palpable, but before either of them could say anything else, Skye chimed in, supporting the engineer’s argument.

“Honestly, Jemma, I think Fitz is right. This wasn’t luck,” she pointed out grudgingly. “As Trip said, that Hydra guy could have killed us, but he didn’t. We were spared and it was so obvious that I was almost surprised Talbot didn’t have his men lock us up on the spot once everything was over,” she admitted, her brow furrowed in a mixture of frustration and confusion.

“He must have been furious after losing so many of his people, while none of our agents got killed, and I don't understand it, either. How come that even though fifteen of our informants and eighteen of General Talbot’s men are dead, we’re still alive?” she wondered, glancing over at Trip briefly before focusing on Coulson. “Hydra is clearly not afraid to cause a massacre, so why the hell didn’t they kill Trip or me when they had the chance? It doesn’t make sense. I mean, they’re _Hydra_ , so why would they leave any SHIELD agents they encounter alive?”

Her question was directed at Coulson, obviously, but it was Hunter who answered her as he, May and Bobbi suddenly appeared in the doorway to the lab.

“Because their leader is a bloody sick bastard, who wanted to prove a point, that’s why.”

All eyes in the room immediately fell on the mercenary at first, but when they became aware of the gurney he and Agent May were pushing forward between them, with Bobbi lying on top of it, seemingly unconscious, Simmons jumped into action right away to tend to her newest patient. She headed out of the infirmary section and into the main part of the lab, leaving Trip, Skye and Fitz behind, who continued to watch the scene in concern.

“Oh, God, do you think she’s…” Skye began addressing the two men in the room with her, only to trail off, her gaze remaining fixed on Bobbi’s unmoving form.

“I don’t know. But it definitely looks like she’s gonna need this room more than I do,” Trip replied as he swung his legs over the side of the med bed and slowly got back to his feet. Skye obviously wasn’t happy about his decision, but as she couldn’t exactly argue against the taller agent’s observation, she stood up, too, and helped him get out of the room, Fitz following them, while Coulson’s and Simmons’ attention was completely focused on the newcomers.

“What happened?” the bio-chemist asked curtly as she approached the small group, her gaze quickly shifting from Hunter and May, who were standing on either side of the gurney, to Bobbi, who was completely motionless and apparently the only one who had been injured. She immediately took note of the field bandage wrapped tightly around the specialist’s leg, but as it didn’t completely explain her current state, Simmons fixated Hunter with an inquiring expression.

“Has she lost a lot of blood? How long has she been unconscious?” she asked in quick succession, not wanting to waste even a second to start treating her friend.

“Actually, I don’t think she is,” May replied in Hunter’s stead, as he was completely focused on Bobbi at the moment, barely paying attention to what was going on around him.

Jemma paused at the reply, as she had no idea what May was trying to say.

“What?”

“She’s not unconscious,” the specialist elaborated, before addressing the man on the other side of the gurney, trying to get him to focus again. “Hunter!”

The harsh tone finally caused the mercenary to glance up from his ex-wife, and as he obviously noticed the scientist’s confused look, he quickly explained what had happened.

“Agent May is right. I know it doesn’t look like it, but trust me, Bobbi is wide awake. We had a run-in with Hydra out there, and Hawkins used some kind of ICER on both of us. The effect on me already broke on the flight back, but I think Bob’s finally starting to snap out of it, too,” he pointed out, indicating her hand he was gently holding in his.

Surprised by this new information, Jemma focus back on the blond woman once more and took a closer look at her, this time noticing a slight twitching of her fingers and eyelids. She quickly produced a penlight from one of her pockets and checked both of Bobbi’s pupils, noticing a delayed reaction.

“Hawkins?” Coulson suddenly asked as he stepped closer to the small group, sounding entirely thunderstruck by the announcement that the illusive former SHIELD agent had finally revealed himself. “He was there?”

“Yeah, he was,” Hunter replied, focusing back on Bobbi, his hold on her hand tightening as he thought back to their encounter with the Hydra operative. “And the next time I see him, I’ll kill him,” the mercenary declared solemnly, but before he could say anything else, Simmons suddenly interrupted him, entirely focused on her patient’s condition right now and effectively overruling Coulson’s interests.

“And you say an ICER did this?” she asked, effectively disrupting the tension in the atmosphere. She briefly glanced up at Hunter as she put her penlight away again and then began pushing Bobbi’s gurney towards the infirmary part of the lab, while Director Coulson turned to Agent May instead to get a quick debrief on what had happened.

Hunter quickly helped her move his ex-wife into the small room, and even though he nodded at Fitz, Skye and Trip in a short greeting, he basically continued to ignore everything around him aside from Bobbi and Simmons.

“It worked differently from our guns, as I was only paralysed and not knock out, but it felt pretty similar. I bet it contains the same stuff we use in our ICERs, too.”

“You mean dendrotoxin?” Simmons asked, looking up at him and prompting another small nod from Hunter. As she continued to check Bobbi for any other injuries than the obvious one to her leg, the scientist called a few members of her staff over to help her move the paralysed woman onto the bed, quickly making the room feel extremely crowded.

“Hunter,” Simmons began, wanting to ask the mercenary to leave, so she and her team would have more space to work. As he didn’t react to his name, however, and remained entirely focused on Bobbi instead, the scientist finally took a moment to look him over thoroughly, trying to determine his condition, as she realised that she hadn’t properly done this so far.

Up until now, she had been so focused on the blond agent on the gurney, given the fact that her injury was obvious and she clearly needed medical attention, that she had practically ignored Hunter, aside from asking him for information about what had happened to his ex-wife.

Jemma noticed with concern that the mercenary’s face was pale, a thin layer of sweat covering his forehead, and she could even spot a slight tremor in his free hand. While she knew, of course, that all of this could simply be signs of his strong concern for Bobbi, there was also the possibility that these symptoms were after effects of the weapon that had been used on him not long ago.

“Hunter,” Jemma started once more, laying her hand gently over his and Bobbi’s this time. “I’ll take care of her for now, alright? Why don’t you go outside with Agent Lee over there and she’ll run some tests on you to find out what weapon Hydra used against you and Bobbi, okay?” she asked, nodding to the female member of her staff in question.

Hunter was clearly reluctant to leave, and Jemma couldn’t help but smile softly at his devotion to his ex-wife, but she was still relieved when he finally let go of the blond woman’s hand and took a step back.

“Bobbi will be fine, and you’ll be right outside, Hunter, so there’s no need to worry,” she assured him, prompting a small nod in reply.

“Alright,” he relented. “Just… don’t forget to give her something against the pain, alright?” the mercenary asked, indicating the bandage around Bobbi’s leg. “She’s probably not feeling it yet, but the more the numbness fades, the more her leg’s gonna hurt like hell.”

“I will, I promise,” Jemma replied, before she indicated to Agent Lee to take Hunter outside into the lab, where the rest of the team was waiting. She could see that especially Director Coulson was more than eager to talk to the mercenary, to find out about the details of the mission and the encounter with Hydra, but as she had other priorities right now, the scientist quickly focused on her patient again, shutting out everything else.

She even had one of her assistants close the door, so that they would be undisturbed, before she began cutting off the field bandage around Bobbi’s leg, wanting to assess the damage.

Given the agent’s condition, she constantly had to remind herself that she actually wasn’t unconscious, and that, no matter how tough Bobbi usually was, this situation probably had to be quite frightening to her.

“You know, I meant what I just said to Hunter,” Jemma suddenly announced, glancing up to the specialist’s face, despite the fact that her eyes were closed and she obviously couldn’t see her. “You, Agent Morse, are going to be completely fine. The bullet didn’t hit any bones and while you’ll probably be walking on crutches for a little while, I don’t see any reason why your leg wouldn’t heal perfectly.”

She kept working on the injury again in silence for a while, glad that after she had injected a local anaesthetic, she wouldn’t have to worry about Bobbi feeling any pain, even once the paralysing effect on her finally broke.

To distract her patient from the situation, she finally began talking again, however, choosing the first topic that came to mind.

“I have to say, I think it is kind of adorable to see how much he cares about you, to be honest. I mean, it’s not like I know Hunter that well, as we haven’t really been on the team together very long, but I still think it’s nice that you two have stopped bickering all the time as you did right after we came back from our undercover job inside Hydra.”

Bobbi blinked slowly a few times at this point, and even started moving her fingers, but Simmons didn’t realise it immediately as she kept talking.

“I mean, I know it’s not easy to repair a relationship once it’s broken,” she admitted with a soft sigh, her eyes wandering to the group outside in the lab and resting on Fitz for a long moment, before she continued and focused back on the woman in front of her. “But I think you and Hunter make a nice team… or probably more than that, and that’s not something you see a lot in this business.”

“We’re… just friends now,” Bobbi suddenly replied, barely managing to form the words. Her answer had clearly startled Jemma, who jumped slightly as she became aware of her patient’s improving condition. She abandoned her work on the specialist’s leg for a moment to check her eyes with her pen light once more, satisfied to find that her reaction had much improved already.

As she ultimately continued, there was a knowing smile on the scientist’s lips, clearly meant to say that for once, she had a better read on the situation than the experienced agent had.

“Well, friendships are very important,” she admitted, her eyes drifting over to Fitz briefly once again, “and maybe that’s really all you two are right now. I just know that Hunter has looked over here to check on you about fifteen times ever since I asked him to leave, so whatever it is you’re calling your relationship right now, I think it is very sweet how obviously he cares about you. Working things out with each other might not always be the easiest thing to do, but I think it is worth it in the end, don’t you agree?”

Bobbi hesitated a moment to answer, her eyes moving slightly, so that she could see outside as well, but when her eyes finally fell on Hunter, the words were out of her mouth before she could even think about them.

“Yeah, I do.”

 

* * *

 

Bobbi was going to be fine. He had known this for quite a while now, and yet Hunter still found that he was having trouble believing it.

The mercenary was sitting in one of the chairs in the lab, watching carefully as Simmons was still treating his ex-wife's injured leg in the infirmary section, not willing to let her out of his sight even for a moment.

The military medic back in the field had already stopped the bleeding and made sure that the bullet hadn't caused any irreparable damage, but even now under SHIELD's care it was obvious that Bobbi would be out of commission for quite a while, if the thick bandage Simmons was wrapping around her leg right now was any indication.

There wasn’t much of a commotion in the lab anymore, as Coulson and the rest of the team except Fitz had already left, and the tests on him had been finished as well, so now the mercenary was sitting by himself, willing time to move faster.

Skye and Trip had both been discharged a while ago, but especially for the former, it had taken some convincing from Simmons, until she had finally agreed to leave the lab and give its personnel more space to work, as she had wanted to stay with her team mates at first.

The scientist had even tried that same approach with Hunter as well, seeing as he was in fact the only one, who had walked away from the mission without a scratch, but the only concession he had been willing to make had been to stay out of the closed-off infirmary section and not to bother any of the other agents, while he maintained his watch over Bobbi from the main part of the lab.

Hunter exhaled audibly as he kept looking at his ex-wife. He was flexing his hand absentmindedly to get rid of the lingering stiffness he still felt in his extremities after having been paralysed with that modified ICER Hawkins had used against him and Bobbi. Apparently they had already found traces of dendrotoxin in the blood sample Agent Lee had taken from him earlier, which, as he had been assured, would be gone from his system in a few more hours.

Leaning forward in his chair, Hunter rubbed the back of his neck in a weary gesture as he closed his eyes for a moment, his thoughts wandering back to the mission relentlessly.

This had obviously not been the first time an operation he had been involved in had gone wrong, and knowing this business, he was sure it wouldn't be the last time, either, but none of that was making it any easier right now to wrap his head around what had happened.

He had screwed up. He had let his emotions get the better of him once again, losing his focus on the mission in the process, and just like during the job that had cost Isabelle Hartley and Idaho their lives, others had ended up paying the price for his mistake.

Hunter knew of course that he wasn't the only one who had failed on the mission today, and that he had had nothing to do with what had happened to Skye, Trip and May, but both Bobbi’s injury and Alex's death were on him, about that he had not a single doubt.

If he had been less emotional, if he had listened to his ex-wife instead of convincing her to take the fake Lt. Lewis with them, they probably would have been able to save the kid. Worst of all, it wasn't even as if he had actually convinced Bobbi, either, he simply hadn't left her any other choice, stubbornly putting them all in danger for a man, who had turned out to be the one responsible for all the horrors of the last few days. The one responsible for his father's death...

“Jemma said that Bobbi will be fine, didn't she?” a familiar voice suddenly asked, pulling Hunter out of his dark thoughts, and as he looked up, he saw Fitz standing next to him, a tentatively hopeful expression on his face as he was looking over at the two women in question.

“Yeah, she did,” Hunter agreed with a slight nod as he looked back at Bobbi now as well, the guilt in his eyes unmistakable despite the knowledge that she would make a full recovery from her injury.

Next to him, Fitz was shifting slightly in his position, ultimately crossing his arms in front of his chest awkwardly as he spoke again.

“I know that the mission went bad-”, he began, only for Hunter to cut him off immediately.

“It went horrible,” the mercenary corrected, his expression darkening even further.

“Well, yes, I guess that’s probably a better way of putting it,” Fitz agreed, but when he continued a moment later, there was actually a certain amount of relief in his voice, proof of him stubbornly focusing on what few positive things there were left to focus on. “But even though you couldn’t protect Coulson’s informants from Hydra, I’m really glad you and the others all came back in one piece. More or less at least,” he added, looking at the assortment of bloody wraps and tissues lying next to Jemma; remains of her efforts to fix Bobbi’s leg.

Hunter sighed wearily once more as he considered the engineer’s words, but even though he was obviously relieved as well that they hadn’t lost any team members on today’s mission, that couldn’t alleviate the guilt, pain and anger that was burning in his chest.

“Alex,” Hunter began, only to correct himself immediately, “ _Alexander_ , the guy Coulson had sent Bobbi and me to protect, he was only a kid, Fitz. Reminded me a bit of you, actually,” the mercenary added with a weak smile, and even though Fitz gave him a look that clearly stated that he wasn’t a kid, the scientist remained silent and let Hunter continue.

“He didn’t deserve what happened to him. _None_ of them deserved what happened to them,” he pressed out angrily, referring to the other informants Hydra had killed, “and I had the man responsible for all of this right in front of me, but I didn’t see it!”, he pointed out, visible angry with himself.

“But how could you have?” Fitz replied after a brief moment, his brow furrowed, as he was actually trying to come up with a way how Hunter might have been able to see through their enemy’s ruse. “And Bobbi didn’t see it either, did she?” he added, glancing over at the agent in question once more.

Hunter shook his head dejectedly, clearly too upset right now for Fitz’s arguments to have any effect on him.

“Yeah, no, she didn’t, but she wasn’t the one who insisted on taking the guy with us, either. I practically invited him to shoot us in the back, damn it!” he burst out in frustration, before leaning forward in his seat and pressing the heels of his hands against his closed eyes to get rid of the image that was seared firmly into his mind, of Alex lying dead in front of him.

When that attempt failed however, Hunter leaned back in his seat once more and sighed heavily.

“I think I need a bloody drink, Fitz. You guys got any of that rubbing alcohol around here?” he asked with a weak smile, the attempt at humour feeling painfully forced.

Fitz’s mouth opened slightly as he was obviously going to reply something, but in the end he just turned around and started looking for something, much to Hunter’s surprise.

“You know I was joking, mate, right? I don’t actually want any-” but at this point he broke off as he saw what Fitz was holding in his hands now.

“I know this probably isn’t strong enough, but-”

“Fitz, this is great,” Hunter replied immediately, as he took the bottle of his favourite beer from the younger man’s grasp. “Why do you have this here?” he asked, looking up at the scientist in surprise.

“You left a few bottles here after we saved the Bus, remember?” Fitz reminded him, and Hunter’s thoughts instantly went back to the day Agent 33 had almost blown up the Bus with the team on it, and how he, Fitz and Mack had shared a beer here in the lab afterwards. It had been the first time he and the engineer had actually talked with each other and he still remembered his slightly awkward, but entirely heartfelt confession about that girl that hadn’t reciprocated his feelings.

Jemma Simmons, as he had figured out by now.

“Huh,” Hunter simply replied as he looked down at the bottle in his hand, but instead of opening it, he began peeling off the label distractedly, his thoughts too far away right now for him to actually be able to enjoy a drink.

It was at this point that Fitz finally realised how fruitless his efforts to cheer Hunter up actually were, and so he ultimately gave up on trying and simply pulled over another chair and sat down next to the mercenary in silence. Neither of the two men said another word while they waited for Simmons to finish treating Bobbi, their beer bottles unopened and in the end simply forgotten.

**To be continued…**


End file.
